X 



DESTINY 



AND 



OTHER POEMS 



M. J. SERRANO 




NEW YORK 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET 
1S82 



or3V 



Copyright by 

M. J. SERRANO 

1883 



Press of 

G. P. Putnaffi's Sons 

New York 



DESTINY. 



A POEM IN FOUR CANTOS. 



eveXniSai eivai npo-, rov davarov^ nai ev ii 
rovro diarosladai aXrfOe'^y on ovk e(jrir ardpi 
cxyaOd) naiior ovdhr^ ovre C(2)vri ovre rskevr?]- 

GaVTL. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE, 



Destiny 










Canto First . . - , . i 


Canto Second 








. 24 


Canto Third 








. 6l 


Canto Fourth 








. 98 


Cybele . 








. 131 


Autumn Days . 








. 138 


Despondency 








. 143 


Invocation to Death 








. 146 


Freedom and Love 








149 


Ode to Valor . 








151 


Lines 








154 


Serenade (From the Spanish) 






157 


To a Mother, on the Death of a 


YOUNC 


5 




Married Daughter 






159 


Dirge . . . . 






164 


Captivity 






167 


Lines to an Exotic Plant , 






172 


To a Husband .... 






175 


Aspirations . . . , 






178 


Contentment (A Riddle) 






182 


Nature's Secret 


, , 






185 



DESTINY. 



CANTO FIRST. 




OFTLY blue the May-day sky 
Roofs in bright serenity 
Forest-aisles and hill-sides green, 
And sunny vales that stretch between ; 
And every living thing that takes 
Its nourishment from Nature, wakes 
To busy life : the insect brood 
Break from their death-like solitude, 
Each its appointed part to play 
In Earth's bright, transient holiday ; 
With living sap the young buds swell. 
That flows in silence to each cell, 
Responsive to the genial power ' 
That forms the fruit and paints the flower ; 



DESTINY. 

And ev^ery tint that greets the eye — 

The soft blue of the tranquil sky ; 

The silver of the morning dew ; 

The young leaf 's green ; the rosy hue 

Of apple-blossoms, blent with white ; 

The very sunbeam's golden light, 

So fresh, so pure, and tender, seem 

Of Youth and Paradise a dream. 

O happy Season ! dedicate 

To Hope, bright Opponent of Fate, 

Still cast thy dear enchantments round 

Young hearts for whom Life's goal is crowned 

With sacred Love's immortal wreath. 

Or Fame's, the Conqueror of Death. 

Still breathe soft airs with magic fraught. 

From some serener planet caught, 

That in the soul harmonious strife 

Stir, to ennoble human life — 

To Earth thy heaven-caught charm transfuse ; 

Feed with thy sunshine and thy dews 

Each bud of promise that for me. 

With fruitless bloom has crowned Life's tree. 



DESTINY. 

To none shall Hope her fairy tale 
More softly on the perfumed gale 
Whisper, in strains that thrill the soul 
Like voices, from Life's distant goal, 
Than, silver-sweet she whispers now 
To Clarence, who, with lifted brow 
Bared to the breeze, and kindling eye 
Fixed on the splendors of the sky. 
Interprets to his bosom's friend. 
In words of fire, with sighs that blend, 
The charmed tones, that by his birth. 
Proclaim him Lord of all the Earth ; 
And calls him by the sacred name 
Of Man, their heritage to claim : 
" For us," he cries, ''does Earth unfold 
The mysteries her recesses hold ; 
For us her secret treasures keep 
Through countless ages silent sleep, 
Until from out the sunless mine 
Man's voice shall call them forth to shine ; 
Their hidden virtues herb and stone 
Shall yield to him ; his sway shall own 
The elements ; his hand shall wrest 



DESTINY. 

Her secrets from the unwilling breast 
Of Protean Nature, held in chains, 
Till, weary of each form she feigns, 
IRevealed in her true shape she stands, 
'Obedient to her Lord's commands, 
Of future triumphs Prophetess, 
In realms that shall his rule confess." 

Here Ernest spoke : " And Clarence, all 

The generations to whose call 

For light to tread the obscure ways 

Of Nature's labyrinthine maze 

A deaf, cold ear she still hath turned — 

What did they lack that we have earned, 

Or by our birthright hold, that Fate 

Should ope for us the magic Gate 

Beyond whose charmed threshold lie 

Her glory and her mystery ? 

No ! Man may catch some pregnant word, 

In Nature's symphony half-heard — 

Of all her treasures on some gem 

May chance, but of her diadem 

The wondrous splendor to behold, — 



DESTINY. 

Herself through all her manifold 

And ever-changing forms to trace, 

Till bare she st^nd ; and face to face 

Hold converse with her in the speech 

Herself alone can fitly teach, — 

This were to hold of Life and Death 

The secrets — this immortal breath 

To breathe ; and here it is not given 

To Man to grasp the powers of Heaven.'* 

" O Ernest ! seek not to destroy 

Of life the glory and the joy," 

Clarence impetuous cried. " How poor 

A boon were" Being — to endure 

The sorrow, bitterness, and strife 

Of Earth, with Death at last, had life 

No higher aim than day by day. 

To chase the fleeting hours away 

In cares that perish with the hour. 

No ! Man has here a nobler dower 

Than petty interests of the earth. 

That end where they have had their birth. 

Nature, Interpreter of God, 



DESTINY. 

Speaks from her secret haunts, untrod 

By foot of man, and bids him climb 

Upward, and scale the heights where Time 

Has reared his barriers between 

The Visible and the Unseen ; 

She bids him see, in star or flower, 

A symbol of Almighty Power, 

Whose care no meanest thing disdains ; 

Whose might the firmament sustains ; 

Whose wisdom formed the wondrous plan. 

The crown and end of which is Man." 

^' Shall Man," said Ernest, " dare to claim 
Of God's most noble work the name. 
While in blind folly he exceeds 
The brute that in his service bleeds 
While Hatred, Envy, Pride, maintain 
The sway that Virtue seeks in vain 
To hold within his breast ? Shall he 
Dare strive to pierce the mystery 
Which shrouds the awful Hand that holds 
The scales of Life and Death ; that moulds 
Planets and suns, and in their course 



DESTINY. 

Keeps them with undiminished force 
From all Eternity ? The fire 
That lights the stars, dare he aspire 
With spiritual sight to grasp, 
Whose widest vision scarce can clasp 
The potency of one poor ray 
Lost in the common light of day ? " 

*' O Ernest ! they who from the Past 
The glory of their names have cast, 
A beacon-light throughout all Time 
*To guide us to the heights sublime 
Where Fame sits throned — heroes and saints 
And giant minds, the elements 
That brought into subjection — they 
Make answer that our common clay 
Is tempered with some spark Divine, 
That still reveals its origin. 
And yet, too well I know that here, 
An exile from her native sphere. 
The Soul forgets to plume her wings 
Ofttimes, amidst the meaner things 
Of this, her cage, content to take 



DESTINY. 

Her ease, and fellowship to make 

Enduring, with her transient mate, 

Unmindful of her high estate. 

And to the earnest soul alone 

Will Science yield her starry throne, 

And sceptre, tipped with living light, 

To rule o'er men in Wisdom's right; 

To him alone will Art reveal 

Her Wonderland ; for him unseal 

The urn that holds the draft divine 

Of Inspiration's sacred wine. 

For the sincere and earnest soul * 

Alone, will Liberty unroll 

Her sacred banner, all ablaze 

W^ith stars that draw their kindling rays 

From the Eternal Source of light, 

That shall at last of Error's night 

Consume the darkness, and disclose 

The spring whence living Virtue flows — = 

The Soul, disdaining lower flights. 

That, like the eagle, seeks the heights 

Where purer air its life shall feed, 

And wider, nobler prospects, freed 



DESTINY. 

From earth-born mist that sluggish reigns, 
And cold upon life's lower planes. 
Then upward be our vision cast, 
Onward and upward, till at last 
From Truth's clear heights we may survey 
The regions of Eternal Day. 
And standing in that light serene. 
Where clouds no longer intervene, 
To mock the eye with hues unreal, 
Behold Humanity's Ideal. 
^Then shall the Soul, her dross consumed 
By those pure beams, stand forth, illumed, 
Transfigured in the awful light 
That vivifies the Infinite. 
Oh ! worthy then the sacred hope 
To nourish, those who bHndly grope 
In darkness, by the hand to lead 
To regions whose delights exceed 
The pleasures of the Sense, as far 
As the pure ray of some bright star 
Excels the glowworm's feeble spark, 
That fitful glimmers in the dark. 
This hope be ours, O Friend ! to free 



10 DESTINY. 

From bondage blind Humanity. 

The chains that Force imposed, at first, 

And Cowardice and Sloth have nursed 

In willing slavery, to break. 

Some slumbering spark divine to wake 

In souls th' impress Divine that bear 

No longer, deathless souls should wear — 

Souls to redeem, in bonds more vile, 

Bound to their passions, that defile 

God's chosen temple, and obscure 

Of Truth's undying lamp the pure, 

Clear light, with smoke of unclean fires. 

At whose hot breath all Good expires — 

Tyrants, content the slaves to be 

Of Sin's debasing tyranny." 

He paused : " The joy indeed were worth 

All other joys this smiling Earth 

The Eden of regenerate Man 

To see," said Ernest. " Life's short span 

Were nobly spent in shattering 

The idols to whose worship cling 

Mankind in blind idolatrv ; 



DESTINY. II 

In teaching Man himself to free 

From bonds of ignorance and sin ; 

Through his own striving light to win ; 

Lust of Dominion to forego ; 

Some joyless life to enrich, although 

His own be poorer for the gift ; 

Some soul in suffering steeped, to lift 

Again into the upper air ; 

In charity and love to bear 

The frailties common to our weak 

And erring nature ; swift to seek 

Faults in himself that late he sees 

In others, but more swift in these 

Than in himself absolves ; to be 

True, just, and clement — destiny 

Worthy our origin and end, 

The allotment of our days to spend 

In this most sacred task : but vain 

The hope the extinction to attain 

On Earth of Evil. In some star 

Remote, whose portals shall unbar 

The hand of Death, these dreams may find 

Fulfilment ; but the chains that bind 



12 DESTINY. 

The souls of men, each for himself must break ; 

No outward force can stir to life the germ 

That quickens not within ; nor wake 

The seed to bloom before the appointed term. 

Did our Divine Redeemer leave 

Humanity confirmed in Good, 

When for our sins His sacred blood 

He chose upon the cross to give ? 

Did even the Twelve His sacred voice who heard, 

His Countenance Divine who looked upon, 

To their high destiny by Him preferred 

From all Mankind ; upon whose footsteps shone, 

Of Supreme Love and Wisdom at their source. 

The light divine — did these all keep their course 

Straight in the narrow path ? O friend ! 

Shall our weak human words transcend 

The Word Divine in soul-awakening power ? 

Evil and Good — these are the potent dower 

From whose opposing forces we must draw 

Strength by the very effort to control 

Death-bearing Evil to the Eternal Law 

Of Good. In this must lie our sole 

Hope of attaining Virtue ; and the strife 



DESTINY. 13 

Each for himself must wage ; and each his life, 

Not by the victory alone must count, 

But by the combat also, in accord 

With its true purpose spent. The Word 

Omnipotent, that from the fount 

Of uncreated Virtue called 

The Heavens into being, and the Earth ; 

And in their places Sun and Moon installed— 

Could not this Force Omnipotent, at birth, 

Virtue with life to every soul have given, 

At once perfected, had He not designed 

By Earth's stern discipline to fit for Heaven 

And Immortality, our nature blind 

And torpid, till, by throes of suffering rent. 

The soul cast off her outworn shell. 

The vital powers that in her dwell, 

In barren darkness that had pent ? 

Yes ; in His Image made, to Man He gave 

Of His creative power a part ; 

And placed, of Good and Evil in his heart 

The germs, that he might choose. The slave 

Or puppet of His Will He made him not, 

But free to follow or to break the laws 



14 DESTINY. 

Immutable of his being. Of his lot 

He is himself the Shaper ; and the cause 

Of Good or Evil to himself. Be sad, 

Because of sin and suffering, no more. 

Therefore, O Clarence ! nor aspire to pour 

The treasure of thy young heart's blood, a glad 

And willing sacrifice, upon 

The altar of thy Faith ; for none, 

But by the travail of his soul, can grow 

In wisdom or in goodness ; and as each 

Must pass through infancy, before he reach 

The stature of a man, so, by a slow 

And gradual growth must every Soul attain 

Her natural height, through Sorrow and through 

Pain, 
Stern teachers, learning the eternal laws 
That rule her being." 

Here the pause 
That followed, Clarence broke in tones 
Of scorn : '' My Soul," he cried, " disowns 
The barren doctrine that would dry 
The springs of kindly Charity 
That hopeth all things, in the breast ; 



DESTINY. 15 

Teaching the Soul to find her best 

And highest wisdom in a faith 

Whose selfish coldness carries death 

To every gentle flower whose bloom 

Might grace the sternness of our doom. 

No ! rather let me hope in vain 

A thousand times, than once remain 

Cold to a sorrow I might cure, 

Or slow to aid. Let me endure 

The pangs of confidence betrayed, 

A thousand times, ere I be made. 

Through prudence, false to the belief 

I hold in Virtue, as our chief 

And highest Good — the heritage 

Of all. If disappointed Age 

Must bring me, with her dear-bought lore, 

This bitter lesson — oh ! before 

Her chilling breath destroy the fair 

And fragrant buds that fill the air 

Of Youth with ravishing delight, 

Let me in Death's untimely night 

Hide, with the rapture that they bring, 

The hope and promise of my Spring." 



1 6 DESTINY. 

"Nay, Clarence," Ernest interposed, 

" If in my words I have disclosed 

Too little faith in this bright dream 

That flatters Youth with transient gleam 

Cast from Life's glowing morning sky — 

The Progress of Humanity, — 

Think not my heart is therefore cold 

To human hopes, or that 1 hold 

A faith less firm than is thine own 

In Virtue — but my heart has known 

Too much of suffering to believe 

In hopes that flatter to deceive. 

To me hath Life her wisdom brought 

Before its season, — wisdom fraught 

With bitterness — without perfume. 

Like every plant whose early bloom 

Springs from a forced and sudden growth ; 

And Wisdom is a plant that both 

The frosts of Autumn and the heat 

Of Summer needs to render sweet 

The fruit it bears. And yet, though stern 

Of mien my Guide, and hard to learn 

The lesson she would teach, from snares 



DESTINY. 17 

The path she treads is free ; she wears 

No false, fair smiles that in their train 

Bring Madness and Despair ; the pain 

Her hand inflicts, beneficent, 

Gives to the soul with health, content ; 

And those who serve her she repays 

With gems that shine not in the rays 

Of treacherous smiles alone, but light 

With inborn radiance the night 

Of Misery: — contempt of all 

The shafts of Fate, that harmless fall 

On the strong soul in armor cased 

Of Constancy, by no alloy 

Whose sterling metal is debased 

And weakened ; a sustaining joy 

In hopes that bloom not, barren here, 

But find fruition in a sphere 

Of higher possibilities ; 

Wisdom, the aspect of the skies 

To trust not lightly, setting sail 

For unknown regions, by the gale 

Of fond Desire impelled, lest dark 

The heavens growing, life's frail bark. 



1 8 DESTINY. 

While sudden tempests round her wake, 

Shipwreck in shallow waters make ; 

Strength, born of suffering, to endure ; 

Hatred of all things base ; a pure, 

Unbribed devotion to the Good 

And True ; content in solitude, 

In whose charmed precincts only lie 

The low, sweet tones that harmony 

Of seeming discord make ; — are these 

Less worth than glittering gems that please 

The fancy, only while Youth dwells 

In caverns dim, by magic spells 

Held captive, but whose glamour glows 

No more when Truth's clear beams disclose 

The worthless cheat ? O Clarence ! trust 

Him not who offers for the rust 

And tarnish of the Lamp whose power 

Gave to our Youth an affluent dower 

Of precious gifts, its hours that lit 

With joy, a shining counterfeit. 

In vain, in vain we hope to call 

Back from the Past the prodigal 

Gay bloom of Spring to grace the dull 



DESTINY. 19 

And barren days of Winter. Full 

Of bitterness the years that cling 

To faded glories of Life's spring 

P'or all their wealth — whose stores contain 

No garnered harvest of ripe grain 

To nourish with sweet, wholesome food 

The hours of rest and solitude. 

Build therefore now no pleasure-house 

Of fragrant flowers and blooming boughs^ 

Laden with promise fair, thine age 

To shelter ; when the heritage 

Of Youth is squandered — its perfume 

Wasted on winds that rob its bloom, 

Quenched its warm light, its music stilled, 

Vanished the joys its hours that filled ; 

The branches, withered then and dry, 

Shall stand against the wintry sky, 

Whose living roots within the earth 

Hide not the promise of a birth 

Of fairer bloom and richer store 

Of fruit than crowned its bloom before. 

Nor grieve that thus Youth's blossoms fade 

For this their gracious bloom was made. 



20 DESTINY. 

That Beauty's self with fostering care 

Might guard the germ designed to bear 

The fruit of Truth, who is with her 

In essence one — the minister 

Of Being each ; nor, reached her end, 

That with the elements shall blend 

Again the form that Beauty leaves. 

To grace, transfused, the life Truth gives. 

Clarence, are these the thoughts that fill 

With gloom a cynic's breast ? Oh ! still 

Its dear, inalienable dower 

My soul preserves, with gracious power 

Life's barren ways to clothe in fair, 

Undying verdure — bloom more rare 

I'han earthly flowers that fade and die 

Alike beneath the inclement sky 

Of winter, and the sultry blaze 

Of summer noons ; but I would raise 

A barrier sure thy steps to keep 

This side the edge of Fancy's steep 

And treacherous flower-crowned precipice ; 

Lest in the fathomless abyss 

Of Doubt, one step unwary down 



DESTINY. 21 

Should hurl thee headlong. I would crown 
Friend of my soul, thy younger brow 
With amaranthine bloom, whose glow 
Fades not in wintry days ; whose root, 
Undying, bears immortal fruit ; 
Not like the prison -flowers, whose breath 
My soul had steeped in living death, 
Till by thy clear young voice recalled 
Once more to Reason — disenthralled 
From deadly spells, I woke again 
To life, to memory — and to pain/' 

*' Ernest ! heroic soul ! forgive 

The thoughtless words that thus could grieve 

Thy generous heart," cried Clarence. "Truth, 

Not in the fever-glow of Youth, 

But in the strength of riper years 

Finds fittest championship. Not tears, 

And passionate clamor can avail 

To vanquish Evil ; but the pale 

And lonely vigils given to Thought. 

This has thy truer wisdom taught 

My rash, short-sighted egoism. 



22 DESTINY. 

Thou only to receive the chrism 

Art worthy, consecrate to stand 

At Truth's pure altar, and with hand 

Unspotted, offer sacrifice 

Acceptable ; thou hast the price 

Of wisdom paid ; for that thy breast 

Some sorrow harbors, unconfest, 

Long have I known, and fain some balm 

To give thy troubled spirit calm 

I would have sought, but that in vain 

Would Friendship soothe unuttered Pain." 

'' Nay, Clarence," Ernest gently said, 
^' Though from a secret wound has bled 
My spirit long, and Life for me 
Has rent too soon her mystery 
Of sunlit mists, whose depths enfold 
In Youth our Future, when of mould 
More large and noble all things seem, 
Yet calm my soul the fatal Dream, 
That once my senses captive held, 
Has left by Reason's light dispelled. 
But, that no thought to thee unknown, 



DESTINY. 23 

The pulses of my heart may stir, 
And thine not thrill in unison, 
This fatal Dream, the harbinger, 
In radiant guise, of darkened days. 
Now shalt thou hear, and on ray Past 
The light of thy clear Reason cast, 
While I retrace its secret ways." 




CANTO SECOND. 

HEN first amid the solitudes 

Where Nature yet keeps unprofaned 
Primeval state, thy voice unchained 
With magic spell, from deadly words 
Of hate and anguish, my sick soul. 
Her sorrow was no common dole, 
But utter wreck of Joy and Hope, 
That cast her naked on Life's strand, 
In darkness and dismay to grope 
For safety with weak, nerveless hand ; 
Bleeding and helpless on the rock 
She lay, of Misery, when thy grasp 
Caught her from the returning shock 
Of storm-lashed waves, with friendly clasp, 
And held her from the abyss profound, 
Where lay engulfed, of Happiness 
The lifeless form, with flowers yet crowned, 
That still retained the warm impress 
24 



DESTINY. 25 

Of kisses from Life's sources fed. 

I thought my heart within me dead 

Lay then, by Fate's sharp arrow slain 

With Happiness ; but undying Pain, 

A sleepless vulture, gnaw^ the heart 

To joys divine that would aspire 

On Earth, from Heaven immortal fire 

Seeking to bring, with fatal art. 

Yet shall unconquerable Will, 

With calm endurance, vanquish Fate, 

And Virtue in the soul distil 

Strength, in defeat that keeps her state. 

Thus then my soul awaits the hour, 

Nor eager, nor reluctant, fraught 

With solemn and enduring power — 

The weight of her Eternal Lot ; 

Calm in this trust — that He who gave 

The soul her aspirations high. 

Meant not to hide within the grave 

Her dreams of Immortality ; 

Nor deems it of import supreme 

That from Life's bark some freight be cast 

That stays her progress in the stream 



26 DESTINY. 

Her sail is spread on, so at last 

She reach her port, secure the Pearl 

Of Price, her aim and guerdon, won 

From treacherous quicksands and the whirl 

Of angry waters. But as one 

Who, spent with toil, the boon of rest 

From labor wins at last, so I, 

The peace that now crowns victory. 

From long and bitter conflict wrest. 

Peace that the garden of my life 

A wild and barren waste has left ; 

Of every bud in that fierce strife. 

And every opening flower bereft. 

Never may blossom more unfold 

Of earthly bloom its loveliness ; 

With soul-transporting charm the cold 

And darkened days of life to bless, 

Since Love, the sun whose kindling glow 

Transfused its vital warmth to all 

Its beams illumed, has sunk below 

Earth's dim horizon, in the pall 

Of darkness shrouded, such as hides 

From the wrecked mariner the sky 



DESTINY. 27 

And stormy waters, while on high 

His course no friendly pole-star guides." 

" O Ernest ! " Clarence cried, "can dull 
And sordid natures find in Love 
Life's crown, while thou, whose soul is full 
Of richest gifts his grace to move. 
Hast found him to thy offerings mute 
And cold ? to his best attribute 
Untrue ? Nay, rather thou hast been 
Unwilling at his shrine to pour 
Libations ; and from out thy store 
To offer sacrifice ; this sin 
His wrath upon thy head has drawn. 
But, as at times the fairest dawn 
Succeeds the darkest night, so now 
Shall Love appeased, thy days endow 
With light and peace that come at last 
When dark, tempestuous hours are past." 

" Thou hast but ill interpreted 
My nature, Clarence, if thus weak, 
And thus inconstant," Ernest said, 



28 DESTINY. 

" Thou thinkest me — again to seek 

The happiness that once in vain 

I courted ; or to soothe the pain 

Of love insulted, mocked, betrayed. 

The fatal stake for which I played 

Withholding — all that makes life dear, — 

Joy, Hope, and Peace. No ! too sincere 

The homage I have freely given 

To Love, in other joys than his, 

Of Life the glory and the bliss 

To seek — such bliss as reigns in Heaven. 

Life still indeed holds such content 

As springs from duties coldly done, 

But Love's celestial ravishment 

Once vanished, is forever gone. 

Oh ! when my soul had thought she found 

Her mate, no monarch of the earth 

Ruled our kingdom of such worth 

As that of which Love's hand had crowned 

Her sovereign absolute — a brief 

And blissful madness, yet divine. 

That sacred still within her shrine, 

Amidst the Doubt and Unbelief 



DESTINY, 29 

Of later days, may leave serene, 

The pure Ideal of a free 

Harmonious bond — the unity 

Of two true souls — that might have been." 

He paused, and both were silent ; each 
Busy with thoughts too deep for speech — 
Such thoughts as by the magic stirred, 
That lies in some half-uttered word, 
Over the vista of the Past 
A gleam of truer insight cast ; 
And with prophetic power embrace, 
Freed from the bonds of Time and Space, 
The possibilities that lie 
Hid formless in Futurity, 
At length the silence Clarence broke, 
In voice that trembled as he spoke. 
With mingled feelings : " Oh, my friend I 
Well do I know the pangs that rend 
Thy spirit ; for I too have felt 
The power of Love. I too have dwelt 
In those enchanted halls where fair 
Ethereal spirits minister. 



30 DESTINY. 

And Destiny such bitterness 

As thine, for me may hold in store ; 

For never in the ear to pour 

Of her I love, my love's excess, 

Yet have I dared ; nor in her soul 

Know if some chord responsive thrill 

To mine ; for ever when the goal 

Of all my hopes seemed nearest, still 

Some cloud, vague, formless, would arise, 

To veil the lustre of her face, 

And leave me hidden from the grace 

And glory of her starry eyes. 

In chill and barren darkness, mute. 

And faint of heart. And oh ! should Fate 

At last with ruthless hand uproot 

Love's flower, whose fibres penetrate 

To its profoundest depths my heart, 

Ernest, too well, too well I feel 

From Life the glory would depart, 

And all the raptures that reveal 

In Margaret's voice, in Margaret's glance, 

A gleam of heavenly radiance, 

Of heavenly harmony a strain. 



DESTINY. 31 

That tell my spirit not in vain 
Were aspirations given her here 
That find not their fulfilment, yet 
In exile some remembrance dear 
Keep of her home, lest she forget 
Her lofty destiny, and lose 
Content her birthright — willing choose 
Her fellow in the senseless clod — 
Her end, her origin, her God ! " 

On Ernest's ear unheeded fell 

These words, for through his soul had passed 

With Margaret's name a sword. At last 

He cried, with pallid lips that tell 

Of anguish yet unconquered — strife 

Yet unsubdued : — " Clarence, thy life 

Her love will blight ! Oh ! trust her not i 

The name is fatal ! From my breast 

Would that forever I might blot 

That word accursed, abhorred, imprest 

In characters of fire there. 

Margaret ! this name the siren bore. 

That lured me to the treacherous shore 



32 DESTINY. 

Where Happiness went down, with fair 
Angelic seeming. Let it be 
Henceforth with curses only named, 
Or kept unspoken ; enemy 
To Constancy and Truth proclaimed, 
Or held too faithless but by lips 
Forsworn and perjured, to be breathed. 
Her name, my life who has bequeathed 
A memory that makes eclipse 
Forever of its brightness." Here 
He paused ; then with a deep-drawn sigh 
Resumed : " Forgive me. Why should I 
Cloud thy young life with shadows thrown 
From the chill darkness of my Past ? 
If bitterness my heart hath known, 
Shall its remembrance overcast 
Therefore thy morning sky with gloom? 
Oh ! rather let me in the bloom 
And radiance of thy being sit ; 
And catch some reflex of the light 
That glorifies thy life with bright 
Enchantments — splendors such as lit 
Earth once for me." 



DESTINY. 33 

"O Ernest ! cease," 
Clarence in fervent accents said, 
" To call from out its grave the dead 
And buried Past. Rob not of Peace, 
Its sad and sacred privilege, 
Death, the Consoler of all Woe. 
Let Lethe's cool, dark waters flow 
Over thy spirit, and assuage 
This soul-consuming grief. Behold ! 
How fair is Earth ! Oh ! yield not thus, 
Weakly to Fate, oblivious 
Of all Life offers to the bold 
And earnest seeker. This warm air, 
Breathing soft odors ; yon blue sky. 
And all it bends o'er, bright and fair, — 
These have no part in misery. 
Awake ! awake from evil dreams ; 
Earth calls on all to take their part 
In life, who live. Make of thy heart 
No more a grave. Let requiems 
For buried hopes no longer fill 
Thine ear, and make inaudible 
To thy dulled sense the tones that rise 



34 DESTINY. 

In ceaseless clamor to the skies, 
From the great heart that ever beats 
Unpausing, of Humanity. 
O Ernest ! shall the sorrows be 
Unheeded by us, and the joys of men, 
Because, within our narrow ken 
They lie not, nor our pulses stir 
With sympathies that minister 
To selfish happiness or grief — 
The pangs or pleasures of one brief, 
Swift moment of Eternity. 
What ! shall the Earth in darkness lie, 
Hid by a hand in anguish pressed 
Over hot weary eyes for rest, 
When the bright sun dispels the gloom 
Of night ? Is Happiness the end 
Of Life, or noble toil, O friend ! 
That thou should'st bury in the tomb 
Of Happiness thy heart ? With sweet, 
Unselfish throb shall it not beat 
For others still ; and freely give 
Its wealth uncounted to retrieve 
The wrongs and sufferings that make 



DESTINY. 35 

Of brothers enemies ? Oh, take, / 
Ernest, among the ranks again 
Thy place, victorious over Pain 
And weakness— worthy of the wreath 
Of Valor faithful unto Death." 

" Clarence, from life hast thou not said 
For thee the glory would depart, 
Should Fate uproot within thy heart 
The budding hopes that there have spread 
Their roots ; and shall I, who have seen 
The garden of my life laid waste— 
Wide to the winds its beauty cast. 
Blossom and seed— of all its green 
And fragrant life no vestige left, — 
Shall I, of Hope's sweet balm bereft, 
Plant flowers on the grave of Love, 
To bind with garlands my wan brow, 
And in Life's march triumphal move, 
To echoes of his dirge, with slow 
And weary step ? Take thou the sword ; 
Better it fits thy untired hand, 
And battle for the Right. The word 



36 DESTINY. 

Shout to the people, of command, 

With fresh, young voice whose ringing tones 

Unpitied on the ear of Night 

Have never died away in groans 

Heart-rung of anguish infinite. 

The souls of men do thou inspire, 

Clarence, with kindling glance, whose fire 

Was never quenched in tears ; but make 

No vain endeavor to awake 

Within my breast amidst the cold 

Dead ashes of the Past, the old, 

Long-vanished fire and glow of Youth. 

No ardent homage now to Truth, 

As erst, can my dulled spirit yield, 

Eut as its source is, frigid. Sealed 

To all glad outer influences, 

The well-spring of my being flows 

Darkly, nor in its course bestows • 

A brighter green on heirbs or trees 

That on its borders grow. In vain 

Would autumn's sun recall again 

To life and bloom the withered rose 

Whose petals touched by early frost, 



DESTINY. 37 

Their summer glory once have lost ; 

His beams their ruin but disclose. 

Such is my life — a withered flower, 

That still hangs drooping on its stem, 

Though never more may freshening shower 

With crystal drops its leaves begem ; 

Or vitalizing beam illume 

Its pallid hues. Gone are the bloom 

And softness that its beauty made, 

And strength alike. Then let it fade 

And fall unnoted, since no more 

May sun or shower, its bloom restore." 

" Yet in the rose, such fragrance lives," 
Said Clarence, " as, though gone its bloom. 
To autumn days a part still gives 
Of summer's loveliness — perfume. 
That sweetens dark and dreary hours, — 
The soul of summer's vanished flowers. 
And so, thy life its fragrance still, 
Ernest, shall breathe around, though lost 
Its bloom and brightness, at the chill, 
Untimely touch of Sorrow's frost. 



38 DESTINY. 

Or rather shall a second spring, 

O friend ! within thy soul awake 

Life's sleeping forces, that shall bring 

New bloom, new loveliness, to make 

Fruitful again in hopes the year. 

A higher lot, a nobler sphere 

Than perishable things the soul 

Claims as her birthright, though her goal 

Be hidden from her by the dust 

And windings of her toilsome way. 

Though the young bloom of spring decay, 

In the ripe harvest-time we trust 

Untroubled ; and when leafless stand 

The trees, and rigid in her cold. 

White shroud lies stretched the silent land, 

B}'- Nature's own wise lore consoled. 

Still we await in steadfast faith, 

A resurrection from this death. 

And shall the soul, while here on earth 

She still abides, less vital prove 

Than senseless matter, at the birth, 

Exhausted, 'of the Flower of Love, 

Worthless, if by the fruit mature 



DESTINY. 39 

It be not followed. Shall one Spring 

To her be given for blossoming, 

Whose fruit immortal shall endure 

For all Eternity ? A plant, 

Rather, of tropic growth, she bears 

Blossom and fruit at once, and shares 

Of Earth the fettered habitant, 

Comniunion still with skies benign, 

That in her being some divine. 

Undying element transfuse. 

Whose voice her earthly mould subdues 

To such fair fruitfulness, as here, 

In this, her low and narrow sphere. 

Gives confirmation of her high, 

Glad hope of Immortality. 

Ernest, Life's voyage, thou hast said,, 

It matters not if rough or smooth, 

So that its end the pearl of Truth 

Triumphant crown ; but from its bed 

In depths unfathomed, canst thou win 

This priceless treasure, if within 

The abyss thou plunge not ? Canst thou glide, 

Passive, the sport of wind and tide, 



40 DESTINY. 

And to the haven bear at last 

The meed of toil and peril passed ? 

Action ! the primal Law of Earth — 

The law that still a fairer birth 

Evolves from Death, — whose vital power^ 

Displayed alike in star or flower, 

Keeps from corruption and decay 

The Universe ; — this law divine 

Matter and spirit must obey 

Alike, or must alike decline 

From primal worth. Then break the spell 

That holds thee captive to a Dream, 

And live for others ; for too well, 

Ernest, I know thy heart to deem 

That, by the ruthless hand, and rude, 

of Fate once rifled, Love again 

Will e'er come back, o'er hopes to brood, 

Within that nest that still remain. 

If Love divine himself, indeed. 

And not some traitor in Love's guise. 

Thy heart had sheltered." 

" Nay, the meed 
Due to the willing sacrifice 



DESTINY. 41 

Made for Love's sake, my heart now claims 

By no false title," Ernest said ; 

" Not on the altar have I laid, 

Of a false deity, in flames 

Kindled at earthly fires to die. 

The glowing dreams by young Romance 

Inspired — the bright inheritance 

Of Youth, — its aspirations high, 

With all the dear delights that move 

The soul to rapture. Judge if Love, 

When thou hast heard me to the end, 

Himself the sacred fire bestowed, 

That on his hallowed altar glowed 

With splendors that the light transcend 

Of sun or star ; for still divine 

May be the altar, and the shrine, 

Clarence, though they who worship be 

Unworthy of the deity. 

And Margaret seemed, of all who yield 

To Love their homage, fairest, best ; 

Fair as as the flower that holds concealed 

Within its white and stainless breast 

The fatal poison he inhales, 



42 DESTINY. 

Who presses to his lips its bloom, 
Entranced ; and blind the beauty hails, 
That lures him, treacherous, to his doom. 
Yes ; fair as that delusive glow 
On poison and corruption fed. 
Semblance of life, where life has fled, 
That on his path, with friendly show 
Shining in darkness, leads astray 
The wanderer on his homeward way. 
O Clarence ! when in dreams again 
The starry radiance of her eyes 
My soul illumes, a glad surprise 
My pulses thrills, that swift in pain 
Dissolving, tells me of this wound 
Beyond the hope of cure profound, 
The anguish shall my bosom rend, 
Till pain and life together end." 

He paused ; and leaning on his hand 
His pallid brow, awhile remained 
In attitude of hopeless grief. 
Too deep to find in words relief, — 
Prey to a force beyond control, 
The fever that consumed his soul. 



DESTINY. 43 

Then, 

" Clarence, now at last," he said, 
" Thy friend thou knowest ; now at last 
The mask of stoicism is cast 
Aside, and bare before thee laid 
The quivering breast that Memory keeps 
Transfixed with talons sharp, her prey, 
Deep burying there her beak, and sleeps, 
Pitiless, nor by night nor day. 
How vividly my soul recalls 
The fatal hour when first, a guest 
Within her father's stately halls, 
I saw the loveliness imprest 
In fadeless hues upon my heart. 
Amidst the throng I stood apart. 
Plunged in sad revery, as oft 
Was then my wont, when clear and soft 
As melody of woodland bird, 
Upon my troubled senses stole 
Strains, that of harmonies my soul 
In some lost state of bliss had heard, 
The echo seemed. Then silence came, 
Followed by such applause as claim 



44 DESTINY. 

Sweet accents in a tongue unknown, 
From those who listen. I alone, 
A stranger there, no fitting word 
Could find to utter ; for, at rest 
Till then, some chord within my breast, 
By that sweet voice unconscious stirred. 
Her irreversible decree 
Told me that Fate had spoken — free 
Henceforward from the fatal spell 
Thrown round me then, to live no more. 
While still I vainly sought to quell 
This tumult, through the open door 
Her father led me to the place 
Where, radiant in youthful grace, 
A queen amidst the court she stood, 
Who paid her homage. 

' Here I bring, 
Margaret,' he said, in tones subdued 
By some remembered suffering, 
' The son of one who, in our youth, 
Was dear to me — whose memory still 
Is dear and honored ; and who will, 
For his own merits, to us both 



DESTINY, 45 

Be dear.' He paused. A sudden glance 

Illumining her countenance, 

Told me that here was no still lake, 

Reflecting in its tranquil breast 

The changing clouds — content to take 

Its motion from without, or rest. 

But, clear and strong, a mountain stream, 

Deriving from its native source. 

With being, freedom, depth, and force ; 

Yet idly that at times to dream 

In some green, fairy-peopled dell 

Could linger, of the summer moon. 

The splendor of some golden noon, 

Or sunset, yielding to the spell. 

" ' Oft have I heard my father speak 
Of his profoundest grief,' she said 
Gently, ' save one ' ; while in her cheek 
The rose-tint deepened, as she laid 
Her slender hand in mine ; ' and still 
The shadow lingers, dark and chill, 
Cast by the eclipse of Friendship's star 
Over his days.' Here her voice took 



4^ DESTINY. 

A softer accent, and a look 

She turned upon him, such as are 

By pitying angels cast on those 

Who, from the crimes and errors free 

That desecrate Humanity, 

Share of Humanity the woes. 

Then — ' But young leaves shall clothe again 

The tree with verdure, in whose shade 

The weary heart from toil and pain 

Finds rest awhile, and strength,' she said, 

And turned her clear, dark eyes on me. 

" 'Young leaves again shall clothe the tree,' 

Her father said, and gently sighed ; 

' But other hearts than mine shall hide 

Beneath its shade their joy or woe. 

The rudely-broken dream can know 

No second being, though kind sleep 

Return, and wrap the soul in deep 

And calm repose ; so once dispelled 

The bright illusions that have held 

In thrall the spirit, never more 

Can Time their magic hues restore.' 



DESTINY. 47 

" He ceased ; and, for his soul to dwell 

Seemed in the Past, nor she nor I 

Would break the silence here that fell, 

Till he resumed : ' The glowing sky 

Of morning not less, fair and bright, 

Our senses charms, though clouds and night 

Obscure at last its gorgeous hues ; 

Then ere Life's rose its freshness lose. 

Let Youth its fleeting sweets inhale ; 

Dispense the blooming heritage 

With lavish hand, each passing gale 

That makes less fragrant ; leave to age 

Its wisdom, of unwilling toil 

The fruit — harsh product of a soil 

Watered by tears ; and Pleasure's draught 

Drain, that while sparkling must be quaffed.' 

" Thus did the hand of Fate, in words 
Whose bitterness I knew not then, 
The prelude in prophetic chords, 
Strike of Despair and endless Pain. 
O Clarence ! never may thy soul 
The cold and barren wisdom learn 



48 DESTINY. 

That robs of Fancy's glow the goal 
Toward which thy eager steps may turn 
In trustful hope, unfaltering. 
Oh ! rather weakly, blindly cling 
To aught thy heart that satisfies, 
Than, with a fatal knowledge wise, 
The joy and bloom of Life beneath, 
Discern the nothingness of Death. 
But let me end. The sacred fire 
At contact of two kindred souls 
That springs to being, and controls 
Our human destinies to higher. 
Nobler ends than selfish toil 
Can reach, unguided by its light, — 
This sacred fire, its glow awhile 
Diffused throughout my life, in bright 
And fruitful bloom her nakedness 
That clad with power beneficent ; 
Then, in my breast its ardor pent, 
Consuming with its fierce excess 
My being, in thick, blinding smoke, 
And flames, and lava-torrents broke, 
That swift in blackened ruins laid 



DESTINY. 49 

The beauty that itself had made, 
With every flower of paler hue, 
Beneath the sky of Youth that grew." 

With pensive mien had Clarence heard 

These words, with secret power that stirred 

To pain the fibres of his heart. 

Whose bitterness, if sprung alone 

From Ernest's grief, or if his own. 

Held there, remote and vague, some part, 

He knew not ; nor, as Ernest paused 

A moment, if the sigh his breast 

That moved, by pity most were caused, 

•Or by forebodings dim. 

''The rest. 
If aught remains, what boots to tell," 
Ernest resumed : " if I too well 
Or she too coldly loved, to keep, 
Of heart and soul in unison. 
Our mutual pulses ; or if one 
More skilled than I the chords to sweep 
Of woman's nature, sounds more sweet 
Drew cunning from that instrument. 



50 DESTINY. 

That made, with needful discords blent, 
Of Life a harmony complete. 
Enough that, ere the crescent moon 
That lit that cloudless night of June 
Three times renewed her growth since first 
Upon my sight the glory burst, 
With darkened vision that has left 
My soul forever — from the skies, 
Distilling balm, of Paradise, 
Alone my steps I turned, bereft 
Of Love's sweet immortality." 

" O Ernest ! Love can never die, 

When once to being he has sprung," 

Said Clarence, " but keeps fresh and young 

The soul forever, by his grace 

Once hallowed. In thy heart his place, 

Beneath the guise of hatred, still 

He holds secure, nor can thy Will 

Deny him right of shelter there. 

Too lightly has thy soul Despair 

Seized as her portion. Haply now. 

In anguish no less deep than thine. 



DESTINY, 51 

Her trust betrayed, thy broken vow, 
Love's rudely- violated shrine 
Forsaken, she thou lovest, mourns." 

"My soul the love," said Ernest, "scorns, 

That room for aught leaves in the heart. 

That is not of itself a part ; 

The love that can in aught find scope, 

That is not the Beloved, for hope. 

Desire, or fear ; that calmly claims 

Its rights ; a willing sacrifice 

Itself that gives not, but the price 

Proportioned to its worth, that names. 

Such love was hers — too weak to bear 

A breath of vitalizing air. 

What matter if so poor a thing 

Still to existence feebly cling, 

Or if the oblivion and the peace 

It share, with Death's dull nothingness." 

" Not so," said Clarence, " if aright 

My judgment speak ; thy hand has thrown, 

Ernest, the charm-dispelling stone 



52 DESTINY. 

In Love's calm lake, the infinite, 
Clear depths that mirrored, of the skies. 
Some careless word, some haughty look 
Thy soul impatient could not brook — 
Her peace and thine the sacrifice." 

Here Ernest quickly raised his head, 

With reddened cheek and kindling glance, 

Then while upon his countenance 

The flush died out, he slowly said: 

" Ay, looks and words the heart that pierce 

And move the brain to madness. Hear, 

Clarence, before thou judge, the fierce 

And cruel pangs that could unsphere 

My soul from her fixed orbit. Long 

I bore in silence every wrong — 

Kind glances on another cast — 

Blushes when he approached — for me 

The daily tortures Jealousy 

Prepares for those who love. At last 

The fatal hour unbidden came. 

That kindled with swift wings to flame 

The fires that smouldered in mv breast. 



DESTINY. 53 

Within her father's halls a guest 
Again I stood — resolved to know, 
This night, henceforth if bliss or woe 
My portion were. I sought her where. 
With downcast eyes and absent air, 
Plucking the petals of a rose, 
Apart she stood in shadow. Foes, 
When they encounter, as we stood, 
Confronting each the other, stand, 
Silent and stern. * A last demand 
Upon your grace, this solitude 
Unwonted,' bitterly I said, 
' Now gives me room to make.' Her head 
She turned aside — for in her eyes 
A startled glance of quick surprise 
Some thought she would conceal, betrayed 
A movement of disdain she made 
Then, in my breast'the passionate 
Deep sense of wrong that turned to hate 
And blindly, recklessly I spoke 
Cold, cruel words, and taunts that broke 
Unconscious from my tortured breast. 
'The pangs of self-reproach, at least. 



54 DESTINY. 

The heart you outrage, would you spare.* 
In scornful accents she replied 
Calmly ; but vivid blushes dyed 
Her cheek the while : ' Let us defer 
What further converse you would hold 
With me, till woman's weakness, bold 
In the support that weakness claims 
From manhood's strength, dare vindicate 
My woman's dignity — too late, 
Indeed, to shun a bond it shames 
My soul that gladly it has worn.' 

Clarence ! if the pangs have torn, 
Of anguish, shame, remorse, despair, 
Thy heart at once with ruthless power, 
The tortures that my soul that hour 
Endured, may find some reflex there. 

1 caught her hand — ' Margaret, forget 
Wild words,' I cried, ' that only prove 
The depth and fervor of my love. 
Oh ! shall thy heart, compassionate 
To every meanest thing that lives, 

Its sternness all reserve for me ? 
If to thy pity misery, 



DESTINY. ' 55 

As once, the surest title gives, 
Ah ! then indeed I need not fear, 
Secure in wretchedness. Oh ! speak ; 
Shall anguish sue in vain ? * Her cheek, 
Even as I spoke, grew pale ; her hand 
Trembled in mine, as, in the door. 
Turning, I saw my rival stand. 
I know not if my features bore 
Some deadly token of despair 
And madness, that the minister 
Proclaimed me of Remorse and Woe, 
But Margaret's lips were white, as ' Go ! 
Traitress,' I cried, and flung away 
With scorn the hand in mine that lay. 
' Go ! weave your spells for baser souls 
Than mine, content the cup to drink 
Whose treacherous delight consoles 
In bondage those who willing sink 
Below their manhood's high estate.' 
At this a glance of scorn and hate 
I fixed on him who stood between 
My peace and me ; his face was pale ; 
He would have spoken, but with mien 



5 6 DESTINY, 

Haughty, yet sad, ' A thing so frail, 

Said Margaret, ' as the love that dies, 

Its root when Passion's ardor dries, 

I know not why my soul should grieve 

To lose ; yet, Ernest, this believe — 

You do me wrong.' A gentler glance 

Then on my foe she turned, and said 

^ Forget, I pray you, the ill chance 

Of this discussion that has made 

A stranger witness.' Silently 

He bent his head, and turned away. 

She would have followed. ' Margaret, stayf 

I cried ; ' of this assurance be 

Your actions proof ; this symbol wear 

Of Love to-night upon your breast, 

If still indeed my image there 

Survives ' ; and in her hand I placed 

A rose plucked from a tree that grew 

Beside us. ' Symbol meet,' she said, 

' Of Love on Summer fancies bred, 

That fades when noonday heat the dew 

Has drunk of morning. Thus I cast 

Such love away ' ; and flung aside. 



DESTINY. 57 

My love, rejected, scorned, denied. 
Lay dead, a memory of the Past." 

" And could'st thou, Ernest, had she done 

Thy bidding, love so lightly won. 

Esteem ? '* said Clarence ; " nay, the fruit 

Of over-ripeness from the tree 

That drops, we prize not, though it be 

Of aspect fair. The chords are mute. 

Within the soul that deepest lie, 

To Love, less dear that holds its high 

Ideal than itself. O friend ! 

Be of good cheer ; not yet the end 

Has come of Joy ; not cast aside 

Thy love, but, cherished in her heart 

It lives, by Sorrow justified, 

That proves it of her life a part. 

Friendship, endowed with vision clear. 

Her burden, Ernest, bids thy soul 

Cast off, and gird her loins, the goal 

To reach ; though hidden, that lies near.'* 

" O Clarence ! pause before you break 



58 DESTINY, 

The spell," said Ernest, " that in thrall 

My soul has held ; nor, thoughtless, wake 

To seeming life the ghosts of all 

The buried hopes the Earth that made 

A Garden of Delight — to fade, 

A phantom-train, into the gloom 

Again of darkness and the tomb." 

*' Behold [ " said Clarence ; " look on high, 
Where, trembling through the violet sky, 
The Star of Love her beams serene 
Has rained on us till now unseen ; 
Ernest ! to thee be this fair star. 
Of Love and Peace the Harbinger." 
And in the glance that Ernest turned 
Above^ was quenched the fitful glow 
Of Passion, in whose stead now burned 
The light of Reason ; and his brow 
The impress of recovered strength 
And calmness bore. " Clarence," at length 
He said, " thy hand the healing balm 
Has poured into my soul, that sick 
Lay unto death. The holy calm 



DESTINY. 59 

Of Peace shall banish dreams that thick 
With spectres peopled my dark days. 
I thought to guard in untried ways 
Thy steps from pitfalls ; but, more wise 
Thy Faith, than Unbelief, the guise 
That takes of Wisdom, thou my bark 
Hast drawn to safety, circling near ' 
The whirlpool of Despair ; nor fear 
Again that on the waters dark 
Of Doubt she shall unfurl her sail. 
No ! Clarence ; in this tranquil vale, 
The abode of Friendship, where my soul. 
In darkness groping, came to seek 
A trusted hand to guide her weak 
And trembling steps, by Faith made whole, 
She stands erect, restored to sight. 
And as of yonder star the bright, 
Pure rays the twilight gild, so Truth, 
That draws from urns of fadeless Youth 
Her light, shall, shining from afar. 
In darkness be her guiding-star." 

And homeward, as the twilight fell, 



6o DESTINY. 

They turned their stejos : in unison 
Their hearts with Nature ; one by one, 
In Eve's soft gloom grew visible 
The stars ; repose and silence reigned 
Around ; yet, as the fruit, contained 
Within the blossom, sleeps unseen, 
Save by the spiritual sense, 
So, by the soul, a life intense 
Was felt in that repose serene. 




CANTO THIRD. 

N the soft and fragrant gloom 
Of a rose-embowered room, 
Clarence stood at close of day, 
His bosom yielding to the sway 
Of hopes he vainly sought to hide 
From her who, silent, stood beside 
The window, gazing absently 
At the slowly-darkening sky, — 
A dark-robed figure, slender, tall, > 

Whose presence breathed a charm around, 
That soul and senses held in thrall, 
Nameless and subtle, as profound. 
If in the coils of her dark hair 
It lay ; or in her regal air ; 
Or in the magic of her smile ; 
Or in her voice that could beguile 
The soul from sadness, in its hour 
Of bitterness, with gracious power ; 
6i 



62 



DESTINY. 

Or in the lustre of her face, 

Serene and pure ; or in the grace 

That like the soul of Harmony 

Informed each gesture ; or, if, free 

From earthly trace, it shone, a light 

From Heaven, within the infinite 

And holy calm of her clear eyes, 

Why seek to know ; enough that where 

She came, as Summer brings blue skies 

Benign, and tepid, odorous air, 

She brought a sense of sweetness, blent 

With airs serener, vaguely felt, 

From some diviner element. 

Wherein her purer spirit dwelt. 

But over all a shadow lay, 

As sometimes o'er the fairest day 

A tender melancholy broods, 

That spoke of desert solitudes 

Within her being, doomed to lie 

Blasted and bare beneath Life's sky — 

Rocks from whence no sweet waters sprung; 

Groves in whose gloomy shade no song 

Of bird proclaimed to Heaven the joy 



DESTINY. 63 

Of Being, dulled by no alloy 

Of dark forebodings ; or the thrill 

Of bitter memories, sadder still. 

And now, as Clarence sought in vain 

The passion that his voice betrayed 

To hide, a vague, unwonted pain 

Cast o'er her face a deeper shade. 

More keen the pangs her breast that wrung, 

To see a grief she could not heal, 

Than any from the suffering sprung, 

Of woes her heart alone might feel. 

And fain, before the burning words 

Found utterance, his lips that paled. 

To silence would she bring the chords 

Whose tones his secret soul unveiled. 

Some dim reflection of this thought 

Upon her face, the eye that caught 

Of Clarence, cast o'er his bright dream, 

Of Truth a chilling, daylight gleam. 

A sickening sense of hopeless pain 

Awhile the powers of heart and brain 

Benumbed ; in dull oblivion sank 

The glowing pictures that had graced 



64 DESTINY. 

Existence, by Love's magic traced, 

And left the page of Life a blank. 

But 'midst the chaos of his soul, 

Some instinct of his nature, still 

That o'er his being held control, 

Inspired with strength his fainting Will 

To keep her state ; that if, indeed, 

By Fate this misery were decreed, 

His heart might 'round her dying throes, 

Of Silence wrap the mantle, strong. 

If not to bear, to hide the woes 

With anguish that her fibres wrung. 

And no discordant tone betrayed, 

Though, low his accents, as he spoke, 

That Fate had dealt his breast a stroke 

His life a blighted thing that made 

Henceforth, that flower nor fruit could yield 

Of earthly growth again. The light 

Within his eyes that had revealed 

The hopes that lit his soul, the night 

Had quenched, indeed, of Misery ; 

And pale his brow ; yet calm and free 

From shadows that might tell of dark, 

Despairing thoughts. 



DESTINY. 65 

'' My fragile bark, 
Margaret," he said, " too near the shore 
Has drifted, where the breakers roar 
That menace shipwreck ; and while clear 
Prom Reason's swiftly darkening sphere. 
Some ray yet shines, her course to guide 
Through stormy waves, though wind and tide 
Onward with fatal power impel, 
Back must I turn ; and so, farewell !" 

" Nay, Clarence, let the sacred name 

Of Friendship first," said Margaret, "claim 

Its rights. Before the light, whose ray, 

Serene and pure, my lonely way 

Illumed awhile, is quenched again 

In darkness, let it penetrate 

With vital power, the abyss where Pain 

With undisputed sway, her state 

Has kept. The pangs she cannot cure, 

Let Friendship teach this grief-wrung breast 

With resignation to endure ; 

And if not Happiness, find rest. 

Long have I borne the bitterness 



66 DESTINY, 

Of hidden grief ; long has my heart, 

With Misery's elaborate art 

That spun from her own wretchedness 

Her shroud, in darkness lain. Behold, 

O friend ! her tomb, where, dead and cold, 

She lies, with this poor, withered rose," 

Here from its shrine a casket rare 

She took, and Clarence bade unclose 

The sacred urn. With reverent care, 

While Margaret bowed her head, he raised 

The lid, and, pale and silent, gazed 

Within, with memories of dead 

And vanished joys, forever fled. 

Where his last hope extinguished lay. 

But as he gazed, a sudden ray 

Of sacred joy from some pure spring, 

Eternal and divine, its life 

That took, his face, transfiguring 

Its sorrow, lit ; so, when the strife 

Of warring elements has ceased, 

At some fierce tempest's close, though still 

The sullen clouds hang dark and chill, 

Obscuring heaven, far in the west 



DESTINY. 6/ 

A gleam breaks forth, awhile the scene 

That gilds with radiance serene 

And cold till Night the dusky veil 

Draw, of Oblivion, and shroud 

In its soft folds alike the pale, 

Clear sunlight, and the storm-rent cloud. 

" So dead and cold, that when from Heaven," 

Margaret resumed, "the summons came 

For him, upon my heart whose claim 

Was first and strongest, who -had given 

My life its earliest joys, no thrill 

Responsive there of pain it woke ; 

Like some poor lute, by one rude stroke 

Whose chords are shattered ; and no skill 

Can move them more, of joy or grief 

To breathe the accents — sweet as brief, 

Alas ! the charmed melody 

To Ernest's careless touch it gave." 

Here Clarence took her hand with grave, 
Sad tenderness. " Though not for me, 
Margaret," he said, " the joys divine 
From Love's celestial source that spring, 



68 DESTINY. 

Yet let the happiness be mine, 
To them I love those joys to bring 
And though no flower my hand shall cull, 
Whose seeds I plant, with gracious bloom 
Thy future days that beautiful 
And sweet shall make, if on my tomb, 
When life, with all its joy and pain 
And hope, is done, a wreath thou lay, 
Of simple blossoms, not in vain, 
For me, in Love's warm, vital ray 
Their tender bloom shall they unfold ; 
A lingering fragrance round my cold 
And still repose their sweets shall shed ; 
And oh ! if o'er my lowly bed, 
Margaret, thou sometimes drop the tear 
Of Friendship, not in vain the dear, 
Bright dream my unawakened soul 
With nobler longings that endowed, 
Than she had known before." He bowed 
His head, and sought to gain control 
Over his grief at this. " Forgive 
This selfish sorrow," he resumed, 
" Dear friend ; the fire that has consumed 



DESTINY, 69 

The altar, while the gifts survive 
Untouched, to Love that I had raised, 
Awhile has left me blind and dazed. 
Darkness my soul must therefore seek, 
And kind repose, before her weak 
And troubled vision see aright. 
Yet shall one ray of sacred light 
Illume that darkness — oh ! more dear. 
Reflected from the cloudless heaven 
Of thy calm days, than aught that here 
Fate could of brighter joys have given 
My life, unsanctified by thee." 
Again he paused • then calmly said : 
" Let me at least the herald be 
To thee, of Happiness ; not dead 
The sacred fire its glow that cast 
Over thy swiftly-shadowed Past. 
Quenchless, the ashes cold beneath 
Of Hope's fair fabric, by its own 
Fierce strength in ruins laid, the breath 
Of vitalizing airs has blown 
To clearer light its flame ; and now 
With warmth and light it shall endow 



70 DESTINY. 

Thy being, cold and dark too long. 
Margaret, to bear this joy be strong — 
Ernest thy love than life more dear 
Still holds ; with anguish torn his heart 
Nor happiness, nor rest apart 
From thee has known, and — he is near." 

The swift blood mounting to her face, 
As Clarence spoke, a moment dyed 
Margaret's pale cheeks, then every trace 
Of color, with its ebbing tide 
Slowly departed ; to her breast, 
Closing her eyes, her hand she pressed, 
And would have fallen, but Clarence caught 
Her lifeless form. A moment there — 
A moment with the anguish fraught 
And bliss of years, he held her fair, 
Pale face upon his heart, beneath 
That wildly beat ; her fragrant breath 
A moment on his cheek he felt ; 
Then on a low couch reverently 
He placed her, and beside her knelt. 
Unconscious still. " Margaret, for thee 



DESTINY. 71 

Life means no longer suffering, 
Regret, and soul-consuming strife," 
He gently said ; " then oh ! to life 
Return ; and joy that it shall bring 
At last to thy long-sorrowing soul." 
To her pale cheek the color stole 
Softly, while Clarence spoke ; her eyes 
Unclosing, slowly to his face 
She raised them ; of her glad surprise 
Remorse and pain usurped the place ; 
And, "Clarence, oh ! forgive," she said, 
Forgive the pangs that I have made 
Thy heart to suffer — all too poor 
My worth to recompense thy love. 
Let Friendship to thy life restore 
Its vanished brightness, and approve 
Her sacred power — not less divine 
Than that of Love himself r and when, 
Dear friend, thy soul attains again 
Her pure and lofty calm, some bright 
And joyous life more blest than mine. 
That never of the dreary night 
Of Grief has felt the shadow chill — 



72 DESTINY. 

Some fair young life unconscious still 

Of Misery, shall 'round thee shed 

Its sweet and gracious influence ; 

And Love, when troubled dreams are fled^ 

The crown at last, and recompense 

Of days from darkness won shall be." 

Clarence arose — " To me more dear, 

Margaret," he said, ** the memory 

Of Love that in its sepulchre 

Now lies, than, clad in living bloom, 

Earth's fairest vision of Delight. 

Nor fear that, of the sacred light 

That burns within that silent tomb, 

The pallid ray shall gleam for ill, 

Across my Qold and empty days. 

No ; to the eye invisible 

Of Sense, those spiritual rays, 

Of higher things the images. 

In transitory glimpses caught. 

Shall fix upon my soul ; and these 

Companionship shall bear me, fraught 

With sweetness and content ; not all 

Unhappy therefore is my lot, 



DESTINY. 71 

Dear friend, nor let a shadow fall 
O'er thine, more blest that it is not." 
" O Clarence ! noble, generous soul ! " 
Said Margaret, slowly as he raised 
His eyes, and on the horizon gazed, 
Where softly, deepening shadows stole, 
Blending in one the earth and sky — 
Clarence, beside thy pure and high 
Ideal, how ignoble seems — 
How poor and mean the life in dreams 
Of Happiness its powers that wastes ! 
Oh ! to the soul like thine, that tastes 
Of springs eternal, of what worth 
The shallow waters of our Earth, 
That, when a little while the sun 
Of Happiness has shone upon 
Their clear and sparkling breast, exhale 
Their life upon the passing gale ; 
Or haply deeper, stagnant, breathe 
Around, insidious, pain and death ! " 

A flush suffused, as Margaret spoke, 
The face of Clarence. " Nay," he said 



74 DESTINY. 

Sadly, while from his bosom broke 
A sigh ; " my spirit too has fed 
At earthly sources, and if now 
She turns to purer springs, no meed 
She therefore claims ; to disallow, 
Were vain, the pangs by Fate decreed." 
He paused ; then slowly said : " Farewell ! 
Too long the shadow of my grief 
Has kept from thee the sunshine brief 
That brightens Earth ; too long the spell 
Has held thee captive, round thy young 
And blameless life that Misery flung. 
Margaret, that fatal spell to break — 
From Fate to wrest, for thy dear sake. 
Her secrets, that thy life may be 
Henceforth from every shadow free, — 
Be this my portion ; not in vain 
Then shall my life have borne this pain 
And bitterness ; nor breathe a sigh 
For me, in Love's sweet harmony 
Discord to make ; not all unblest 
My lot, while Happiness thy breast 
Her dwelling make ; her steps to guide 



DESTINY. 75 

To thee, by ways too long untried, 

Be now my task ; once more, farewell ! " 

His face, as Clarence spoke the knell 
Of Hope, grew paler ; but no sign 
Of strife, the storm that raged within 
His soul, betrayed ; he calmly held 
The hand of Margaret in his own 
A moment, while her bosom swelled 
With silent anguish — and was gone. 
Then, in her hands as Margaret bowed 
Her face, — '' O Life ! " she cried aloud, 
In bitterness, " hast thou no draught, 
Indeed, of Joy, that may be quaffed. 
Nor leave upon the lips, when past 
Its sweetness, Sorrow's bitter taste ? 
O noble heart ! the sacrifice 
To Fate, must thou, by lingering fires 
Consumed, with all thy high desires 
Unsatisfied, for me the price 
Too costly pay, of happiness ? " 
In vain the weight that seemed to oppress 
Her spirit, would she cast away. 



76 DESTINY, 

But, powerless, yielded to its sway. 

Through all the fibres of her soul 

A penetrating sadness stole, 

Sapping its strength ; too faint to fall, 

Tears slowly gathered in her eyes, 

Dimming her sight ; and life, and all 

Life's joys seemed phantom mockeries. 

Thus, while she drifted down the stream 

Of Feeling, Thought, as in a dream 

By Will unguided, on her ear 

The sound that fell, of footsteps near, 

Within her heart an echo woke. 

That drew, as by the magic stroke 

Of some enchanter's wand, her soul 

From sorrow's unopposed control. 

Swiftly life's languid current flowed 

Again, again her bosom glowed 

With Hope's undying fire, and all 

Her being to Youth's natural. 

Sweet impulses toward happiness 

Blindly she yielded ; the embrace 

In which, close-clasped on Ernest's breast 

She lay, in one short moment, held. 



DESTINY. . 77 

The bliss divine of perfect rest, 

And all Love's magic power, revealed. 

"" Margaret ! Beloved ! thy dear head 

Do I indeed upon my heart 

Hold once again ?" in tones, he said, 

With passion tremulous ; " to part 

On earth no more again, has Fate 

My footsteps led to thee at last. 

Through thorny ways, compassionate 

For once to Misery ? The Past, 

Oh ! dare I hope, has left no sting 

Within thy soul, with subtle power 

Thy life to poison at its spring, 

And rob the Future of its dower 

Of Hope and sweet expectance ? Speak ! 

O Margaret ! bid me not despair. 

Alas ! the roses on thy cheek 

Have died, and left the lilies there 

Alone — accusers mute that plead 

For him, reluctant they condemn. 

Ah ! sweet, my pardon do I read 

Aright within thine eyes ? No dream 



78 DESTINY. 

Of some lost state is Happiness? 
No phantom that allures us on 
With smiles, deceitful, and is gone, 
Even while her form we seem to press 
Close to our hearts ? Oh ! tell me thou, 
If warm and breathing, here on Earth 
She dwells, a guest of heavenly birth, 
AV.ith sacred halo round her brow 
That lingers still, of light divine ; 
Oh ! tell me if the hope be mine. 
Her hand in friendly clasp to take, 
My guide to joys immortal. Make, 
O Margaret ! make the assurance Sweet 
Of bliss, with one dear word complete, — 
Say that, unworthy though I be. 
Some place thy heart still keeps for me." 

" Ah ! Ernest, in my heart too deep 

Is traced thine image, ever there 

To be effaced ; or empire share 

In it with aught," said Margaret ; "keep. 

Beloved, this assurance ; this 

Has been thy crime — to doubt my love." 



DESTINY. 79 

"And let these altered features prove," 

Ernest replied, " of slighted bliss 

That I have paid the penalty." 

"Thou, too, hast suffered then," a sigh 

Her voice commoving, Margaret said. 

And with caressing gesture laid 

Her hand upon his cheek. His face 

A sudden pallor overspread, 

Then the returning blood a red, 

Deep flush left there, in his embrace 

As closer to his heart he caught 

Again her form. " Oh ! cheaply bought 

By years of misery,' he cried, 

" This happiness. Beneath the wide, 

O'erarching vault of Heaven lives 

No creature in this hour more blest, 

B)^ aught its care or wisdom gives, 

Than I, its dearest treasure pressed 

Thus to my heart. My pearl ! my flower ! 

Henceforth shall all my life atone 

For every pang thy heart has known ; 

Henceforth the care of every hour 

Shall be thy happiness. But, sweet, 



8o DESTINY. 

This little hand is cold ; come, rest,* 
He said, as to his lips he pressed 
Her hand, and drew her to a seat, 
Where, pillowed on his breast her head, 
Silence a while they kept. At last. 
Breaking the spell around them cast 
By Love's sweet magic, of the Dead 
With reverent tenderness they spoke, 
And of the bitter Past, that woke 
Within their hearts a pang again 
Of anguish and unconquered pain, — 
A pang that drew a keener force, 
In Ernest's bosom, from remorse, 
As Margaret told him how, by Death 
And Absence solitary left, 
She came, to find, of Joy bereft, 
A haven of repose beneath 
The roof her mother in the days 
Of girlhood that had sheltered ; still 
That sheltered in the peaceful ways 
Of life, remote from storms that kill 
The tender bloom of Being, her, 
The friend and sister, wno the dear 



DESTINY. 8 1 

Companion of those days had been. 
Here in this calm and peaceful scene 
She thought to nurse her grief, nor more, 
A dweller on the busy shore 
Of Life, to pleasure's perfumed gale, 
Or Hope's fresh breeze the storm-rent sail 
To unfurl again, of her frail bark ; 
No more again to dare the dark 
And stormy flood that holds within 
Its depths the gem whose light serene 
Gilds the repose from conflict won. 
Then Ernest told how here he came, 
His hopes destroyed, his peace undone, 
A balm to seek in Friendship's name 
To soothe the anguish of his soul. • 
He came a pilgrim to the goal, 
Within whose shadow, poppy-crowned, 
In dreamless sleep Oblivion lies. 
And lo ! her brow with roses bound, 
Love's radiance in her starry eyes. 
There Happiness to greet him stood. 
Now by her soft, sweet accents wooed, 
To heights divine his spirit soared, 



82 DESTINY. 

On Hope's swift pinions borne. The Word 

Supreme Creation's mysteries 

Unlocking, through his soul in far, 

Reverberating cadences, 

Faint echoed, that from star to star, 

Through space, in this transcendent hour 

Of sacred Love's all-conquering power, 

Soaring, a something more divine 

Exulting owned, than all those bright 

And glorious orbs with light that shine, 

That, quenched, shall sleep in endless night 

A something, to the Power that made 

Those wonders, that proclaimed her kin — 

That incorruptible, within 

His being, when the splendors fade 

That light this Universe, shall live, 

And Time and Space themselves survive. 

Oh ! could the sacred rapture last, 

Thus that exalts the soul above 

Her mortal state — could we but cast 

Aside the bonds that make of Love 

The slave of selfishness, then Earth 

Might bear a nobler race, whose worth 



DESTINY. 83 

Were equal to their Destiny ; 

Then might Humanity her high 

And glorious end attain ; then Truth 

Should languish in her chains no more, 

A captive Queen ; the soul might soar 

Then to unconquered heights ; and Youth 

Might realize her dreams. Alas ! 

For us, too swift the moments pass, 

To mortal vision that disclose 

A fleeting glimpse of Heaven ; the fire 

Divine, that Earth transfigures, glows 

More bright, the sooner to expire ; 

And all the splendors that in gleams 

Of Inspiration we behold, 

When we awaken from our dreams, 

Leave but their ashes, dead and cold. 

In speech by Hope interpreted. 
While spoke the Future, swift away 
The moments sped ; the tranquil day 
A tranquil evening in its stead 
Had left, by moonbeams softly lit, 
Whose silvery lustre lent a pale, 



84 DBS TIN V. 

Pure splendor to the scene. The veil 
From mortal sight the Infinite 
That hides, with all her myriad forms 
And modes of Being — sleeping germs 
Of worlds yet tenantless — extinct 
And outworn worlds, with all that lies 
Of Nature's wondrous mysteries 
Of Life, between, together linked 
In one unbroken chain, by Force 
Creative, that the Universe 
Harmonious guides unseen, — the veil 
Between the worlds of Soul and Sense 
Seemed in the solemn moonlight, pale 
And softly bright, to grow less dense ; 
And dimly shone to mortal view, 
Of Life mysterious glimpses through. 
The thought of Death, in that sweet hour 
Of peaceful influence, lost its power 
To chill the ardent soul ; a sleep 
It seemed, beneficent and deep. 
That separates, of two busy days 
The activity ; and Pain and Strife — 
Sin, and the misery of Life — 



DESTINY. 85, 

Seemed, in the moon's pure, pallid rays, 

More shadowy and unreal. High, 

Calm thoughts of Immortality 

Filled in that hour the soul, content, 

Upon the Force Omnipotent, 

To rest her hopes, that called her forth 

From Nothingness, and made the Earthy 

Fruitful and fair, her dwelling-place, — 

Recipient of unearned grace. 

But not for Ernest, though his soul, 

Unconscious felt the sweet control 

Of Nature's holy calm, the close 

Of Day was fraught with such repose, 

As with the pensive charm it lends 

The hour, a subtle sadness blends ; 

One thought alone, filled heart and brain — 

He loved, and was beloved again. 

Nor did he note the sigh suppressed, 

Ere breathed, that gently stirred the breast 

Of Margaret, as, with brow serene, 

Though pale, and sad, yet tranquil mien, 

Before her mind arose the form 

Of Clarence, like some slender palm, 



S6 DESTINY. 

That tossed and beaten by the storm, 

Stands yet erect, nor mars the calm 

Of Nature's fair aspect when past 

The tempest, till its slow decay, 

And bare and withered boughs at last 

Its secret, cureless wound betray. 

For well she knew that when the roots 

That, hidden, deep and wide have struck, 

Are wrenched by some convulsive shock, 

And loosened from the earth, no fruits 

Can crown the tree's fair promise — dead 

Amidst the activity it stands, 

Of Nature, and by sunshine fed 

In vain, no more with bloom expands. 

These troubled thoughts upon her brow 

A shadow cast, as, " Margaret, now," 

Said Ernest, " Earth can hold no ill 

For me henceforth ; for Death shall still 

United keep us when his dart 

Our hearts shall pierce together. One, 

One ill incurable alone 

My soul could know — from thee to part.** 

In Margaret's breast the vague, dumb pain 



DESTINY. Zj 

That pity and remorse awoke, 

She sought to hide from him in vain, 

In tender accents as he spoke, 

His eyes upon her fixed ; too well 

Her heart the fatal knowledge proved. 

That not alone to be beloved. 

And love again, can break the spell 

Over our human destinies 

That hangs for ill ; so subtly these 

Are linked together, each still gives 

Again the impulse it receives, 

In ceaseless change ; as waves that take 

Their swell in northern tempests, break 

On tropic islands ; or, as sound 

Once wakened, to its furthest bound 

Through space reverberates. The shade 

Upon her countenance betrayed 

At last to Ernest that some grief 

That found not in his love relief, 

On Margaret's heart lay heavy ; " Speak, 

Beloved, have I lost indeed," 

He cried, "of Love the glorious meed. 

Through senseless folly, blind and weak ? " 



88 DESTINY. 

" Nay, Ernest," Margaret answered, " take 
This rose, that, treasured for thy sake, 
The witness of my tears has been, 
And read, its faded bloom within, 
What life has held for me of fair 
Or bright, since first, the emblem there, 
Of Love, within its tomb it lay, 
Though blighted, fragrant in decay." 

Like waves with mighty force that roll, 
Each footprint sweeping from the shore, 
The Past came surging o'er his soul. 
As Margaret spoke, with deepening roar,, 
From Memory's caverns, in its course 
Effacing all the glowing hues 
That Love and Hope around diffuse, 
Beneath the tide of vain remorse. 

" O Margaret ! let Oblivion 

Forever shroud that fatal hour," 

He cried, " when yielding to the power 

Of foes in darkness leagued, her throne 

Reason awhile forsook. That crime, 



DESTINY. 89 

That all too short to expiate 

Were life, from off the scroll of Time 

Let Love efface, compassionate 

To madness by himself inspired. 

Oh ! if my spirit had aspired 

To joys less perfect, less divine, 

Not now the bliss, the pain were mine, 

That only on his worshippers 

Devout and true, the god confers. 

But o'er thy soul some shadow lies, 

Beloved, that its depths conceals ; 

No longer in thy limpid eyes 

The light its every thought reveals. 

Some hidden grief lies cold between 

Thy heart and mine. Alas ! too lat^ 

With bitter mockery has Fate 

Back to my arms restored, serene, ' 

And fair of aspect still, indeed, 

The form inanimate of Love ? 

Oh ! must my heart the anguish prove, 

The bitterest to the soul decreed, 

Of lavishing endearments vain 

On ears that hear not, lips again 



go DESTINY. 

That answer not, of Death the prey ? 

Less bitter were it in the tomb 

To hide his lifeless form away, 

Than one by one, watch grace and bloom 

And every fair delight depart, 

O Margaret ! if indeed thy heart 

Through loyalty to Love alone, 

Now wears his bonds to fetters grown — 

If Pity hath beguiled thy soul 

Awhile from Reason's calm control, 

And thy unselfish nature takes 

For Happiness the sacrifice. 

Accustomed, gladly that it makes. 

Nor deems too high the costly price, 

Forever though it leave thee poor. 

That buys another's peace — oh ! blot 

From Time this hour, and count it not 

In the fair record of thy pure 

And calm existence. Let me go. 

And bear with me my cureless woe ; 

Less wretched thus, than day by day 

To see the blossoms fall away 

From Love's fair tree, beneath the breath 



DESTINY. 91 

Of chill indifference, till bare 

It stands, yet nor the peace of Death 

Nor Life's activity may share." 

A glance reproachful, full of pain 
And sadness, Margaret, as he ceased, 
On Ernest cast. " My heart again," 
She gently said, " awhile released, 
Too credulous, from Misery's sway, 
Is ready on her joyless way 
Lonely to wander ; in thy mind 
Too wide suspicion's poison-weed 
Has spread, to perish, nor behind, 
Ernest, leave still its deadly seed. 
Then, ere to growth untimely nursed 
By Passion's heat, the bloom it kill 
Of Love's first blossoming ; while still 
The image of that Love, as erst. 
Serene and steadfast, may survive, 
A sacred Memory in my heart — 
Let us in peace forever part, 
Nor wait the death Distrust must give 
At last to Love." As Margaret ceased. 



92 DESTINY. 

The flush of anger that o'erspread 

The face of Ernest, in his breast 

Betrayed the tempest. " Rather dead, 

Now in thy heart," he cried, "lies Love, 

Thus calmly that thy words approve 

A sentence that for me Despair 

And Madness means. Yes, let thy fair. 

Smooth tongue to cold indifference 

Transfer the speech of Reason. Bring, 

And call on Heaven the vain pretence 

To sanctify, thy offering — 

The worthless plaything of a day — 

Before Love's sacred shrine to lay. 

Oh ! had thy heart the bitterness 

Of absence known, the anguish vain 

Of hopeless love, not now again 

Thus calm could'st thou the lot embrace- 

Our parting that decrees — for me 

Soon shall my suffering cease to be." 

Then in dejection on the seat 

He sank, from which in passion's heat 

He had arisen. The deepening gloom 

Of night, and silence, filled the room. 



DESTINY. 93 

A moment Margaret paused ; then said, 

In gentle accents, as she laid 

Her hand upon his shoulder . " Nay, 

Ernest, within thy soul her sway 

Let Reason hold again. Too well 

Thou knowest that within my heart 

Thy image shall forever dwell, 

To think, though thou and Fate should part 

Our destinies, that Fate or thou 

From Memory's power could free me now." 

The Moon behind a passing cloud 
A moment that had veiled her light. 
Here through the windows poured a flood 
Of silver splendor, softly bright. 
Touched by its glory, to his view 
Disclosed, her face, as Margaret ceased. 
That bore of pain the pallid hue. 
Remorse and anguish in the breast 
Of Ernest woke. " O deadly draught ! " 
He cried, " my eager lips that quaffed, 
Has Nature for thy poison, then, 
In all her stores no antidote ? 



94 DESTINY. 

And shall the spirit drink in vain 
Of healing waters, when the hot 
And scathing breath of Jealousy 
Has once passed over her ? To be 
The willing slave of that she scorns, 
Must she descend ? O Margaret ! leave 
To misery that too well she earns ; 
The soul that could from thee receive 
Her crown of Love, yet counterfeit 
Would prove its jewels. Fate has set 
Her seal upon me ; and mine eyes 
With blindness hath she struck, the path 
Heedless that I might tread, to Death 
That leads, and madness. I the price 
Alone must pay, nor drag thee down 
To those unfathomed depths where lie 
In wait Despair and Misery. 
Farewell ! forget that thou hast known 
One in whose grasp the perfect Flower 
Of Happiness a moment lay ; 
But, driven to madness by the power 
Of fatal spells, who cast away 
Its petals to the winds ; yet kept, 



DESTINY. 95 



Of sweets within its heart that slept, 
The memory in his soul to make 
Accurst existence for its sake." 



** Ernest," said Margaret, as he ceased, 
" Thy hand remorseless, all too late 
A bond would sever, that has passed, 
Alas ! beyond the power of Fate. 
Go, then ; but bear within thy heart 
The assurance that, from life with thee 
The beauty and the joy depart. 
To bloom no more on earth for me." 

" Margaret ! " cried Ernest, " oh ! forget 
The madness that my soul has held 
In fatal thrall. Here at thy feet 
Let me for pardon sue, that sealed 
With those kind drops that in thine eyes 
Now stand, the Gates of Paradise 
Again shall open for me. Speak ! 
To anguish doomed, and endless pain, 
Beloved, shall I sue in vain ? " 



96 DESTINY. 

He paused ; a flush suffused her cheek, 
As bending down, her lips to his 
She pressed ; and softly said : " Be this 
The seal of pardon and of peace 
Between us, Ernest ! so my love 
Shall, justified, her power approve 
To vanquish evil spells, thy soul 
That held in their unblest control." 

" Oh ! may my soul forever lose 

'Twixt Good and 111 the grace to choose,' 

Said Ernest, " if this sacred hour 

She e'er forget, or to the power 

Of Darkness yield again. At last, 

Margaret, believe that madness past 

Forever from the soul by thee 

Thus consecrated. Let me be, 

Here and hereafter by the slow 

And subtle fires of vain remorse 

Consumed, if e'er thy spirit know 

A pang in me that has its source." 

And Margaret, as on Ernest's breast 



DESTINY. 97 

Her weary heart awhile found rest, 
Her silent vows preferred to Heaven 
That to his spirit might be given 
Indeed the simple faith that seeks 
No evil in the thing it loves ; 
But gladly to the voice that speaks 
Of Goodness lends an ear, that moves 
The soul to sweet contentment. Fain 
Would she believe her vows in vain 
Were offered not ; yet when at last 
Ernest was gone, and o'er her dreams 
The sun of Happiness his beams 
Softly diffused, some shadow cast 
By clouds unseen, her soul with chill 
JForbodings filled of coming ill. 



CANTO FOURTH 



PIRIT ! enthroned upon eternal heights 
Who sittest, Virtue, clad in light serene 
Thou offerest to mortals no delights, 
In thy effulgent majesty unseen, 
Save, when the veil by anguish rent, the soul 
Stands bare in thy dread presence, and with calm 
And tranquil mien thou pointest to the goal 
Beneath thy feet ; thou offerest no balm 
To heal her bleeding wounds, yet at thy shrine 
She pours in glad libation the life-blood 
Of her mortality ; for thou divine 
Unchanging witness to the living God 
Dost bear, when, spurning, of her high desires 
Unworthy, Earth's best gifts, to Immortality 
And all its glorious attributes, by thee 
Foreshadowed dimly, proudly she aspires. 
Thou, through heroic souls, from age to age 
The sacred fire who hast kept alive, 

98 



DESTINY. 99 

With vital breath of Truth our heritage, 

Kindle to nobler heat our spirits, that we strive 

More earnestly the glorious heights to attain. 

Whereon thou dwellest, though each footstep leave 

Its trace in blood ; knoAving the soul through Pain 

Alone her consecration may receive 

To thy pure service ; so were Earth of Right 

The holy Temple, lit by thy transfiguring light 

The Summer sun declining shed 

A softened splendor o'er the scene. 

As Clarence with dejected head 

Sat all unconscious of the green 

And smiling landscape that around 

Its fresh and glowing charms displayed; 

His steadfast gaze bent on the ground 

In far abstraction that betrayed, 

Though past the strife, the victory won, 

Still in his soul that each desire 

Laid on the altar, one by one, 

Of Virtue, there in flames to expire, 

Kindled by his own hand, had left 

Its shade behind to haunt his dreams 

And solitary hours, bereft 



lOO DESTINY, 

Forever of Hope's vit^l beams, 
For never more the cheerful Dawn 
Before whose splendors phantoms flee, 
Might break upon his soul, withdrawn 
Forever from her ministry. 
No more ; yet therefore not all dark 
For him Life's sky ; for in his breast 
, Glowed a divine and deathless spark, 
Its light that o'er the shadowy West 
Now cast, toward which his inward gaze 
Was turned, with radiance cold and clear 
Touching its gloom, till kindling rays 
Of glory through the atmosphere 
Spread softly, and his soul stretched forth 
Her wings, to clasp the Infinite, 
That in the anguish of this birth 
Of nobler powers, to her sight 
Grew dimly visible. Thus caught 
His spirit to far heights of Thought, 
Borne on the breeze the hollow sound 
Of fiery hoofs that beat the ground, 
Approaching swiftly, rudely broke 
The spell that held him, and awoke 



DESTINY. loi 

Within his breast a vague, wild fear 
Of de dly peril, drawing near. 
Peril to those he loved ; for him — 
No more might Fate, with aspect grim 
Affright his soul ; for Hope no more, 
With syren voice to Pleasure's shore 
Could lure him now ; and he who spreads 
No sail, the storm-tost ocean dreads 
No longer — bitter recompense 
Of Pain, that from the flames intense 
Alone, where Happiness expires, 
Spring in the soul the deathless fires 
To being, that for her illume. 
Serene, the darkness of the tomb. 

Before his Thought could shape the Fear 
Its shadow chill that o'er him cast — 
Of Fate the phantom-harbinger — 
The wild-eyed coursers, hurrying past 
In aimless flight, with grasp of steel 
Had Clarence caught ; and now he lay 
Pale on the ground, insensible 
To Ernest's accents that betray. 



I02 DESTINY. 

As over him he bends, such pain 
As Reason seeks to soothe in vain. 

Dumb witnesses of his despair, 

With quivering nostrils now they stand, 

And foam-fleet sides, all trembling there, 

Who wrought this woe, though Ernest's hand 

No longer holds the reins that hang 

Loose on their necks, where when he sprang 

To succor Clarence, as he fell, 

He threw them ; in their gaze remorse 

And helpless anguish seem to dwell, 

In something that might take their source 

Akin to our Humanity. 

Passive they stand, while long in vain 

The senses Ernest seeks to free 

Of Clarence from the leaden chain 

That holds them bound. At last a sigh. 

Deep-drawn, and faint — a sightless gaze 

That slowly in the awakening eye 

Grows conscious with the dawning rays 

Of Reason ; then a pallid smile, 

Toward Ernest as he looks, the while 



DESTINY. 103 

Whose heart stands still, and life in slow 
And fluctuating tide to flow- 
Once more begins ; once more the bond 
Of Nature joins in friendly clasp 
Their souls, before the dim Beyond 
Could Clarence, groping darkly, grasp. 

" O fatal hour ! when first thine eyes 

The wretch beheld who in the guise 

Of Friendship," Ernest cried, " the cause 

Of suffering thus was doomed to be, 

Clarence, in his despite to thee, 

His savior — the eternal laws 

Of Justice breaking, that ordain 

To Evil the award of Pain, 

To Virtue Happiness. O Fate ! 

To me who prodigal too late 

Hast ever been, must all indeed 

Who love me, then, receive the meed 

Of those, beneath the deadly shade. 

Who resting, of the Upas, breathe 

Destruction unaware, betrayed 

By its fair seeming to their death ! " 



104 DESTINY. 

'' Nay, Ernest," faintly with a smile 

Said Clarence, '' let not grief beguile 

Thy Reason thus ; did Virtue lend 

Her help, secure that in the end 

Nor loss nor suffering could she know, 

Like knights of old romance, with steel 

Enchanted, fighting, every foe 

Who conquered, sovereign balm to heal 

Their wounds, the while they carried, where 

Were then her merit ? Then her fair 

Exterior were hypocrisy. 

Her godlike speech were but a lie. 

But call not by so high a name 

As Virtue, Nature's impulse blind 

The help the meanest wretch should claim 

Freely, to give him in whose mind 

No thought untrue to me could live ; 

Who freely, as I freely give 

My life, his life would give for me — 

That were to wrong Humanity." 

The pallid smile forsook his lips 
At this ; he closed his eyes, and life 



DESTINY. 105 

Again was lost in brief eclipse, 

While in his breast a silent strife 

Destruction waged with Nature — fierce 

As silent, while the Universe 

For Ernest on that moment hung 

Of all Eternity. At last 

From anguish Fate, to whom he clung 

With wild despair, while through him passed 

Her sword, to Ernest's bosom gave 

A respite short ; and her decree 

Uttered, from which no power can save, 

A treacherous tranquillity 

Now in her aspect takes the place 

Of menace and of wrath ; the face 

Of Clarence once again the light 

Of life's returning glow illumes ; 

And once again the day is bright 

For Ernest Friendship that entombs. 

Illusive brightness that, alas ! 

For him before the day is done 

Is turned to darkness that shall pass 

Away with no returning sun. 

For now at last the fatal truth 



I06 DESTINY. 

His soul has grasped, that with the high 
And glorious promise of his Youth 
Crushed in the bud must Clarence die. 
Die, while within his veins the tide 
Of life flows strong, while in his soul 
Youth's sacred fire burns clear to guide 
His footsteps to the exalted goal 
Of Manhood's dearest hope — to Man 
The tidings of his worth to bear — 
That all the noblest spirit can, 
He by his Manhood too may dare 
To teach the lowest wretch that lives — 
That Nature to her children gives 
Alike the sacred right to unfold 
The glorious possibilities 
Of their Humanity, untold. 
Undreamed of yet — that to be wise 
Is the prerogative of none. 
Wisdom by toil who has not won 
And suffering — that to be great 
Is of the man, not of his state — 
That Happiness eludes the grasp 
Forever, that would rudely clasp 



DESTINY. 107 

Her form ethereal, and bestows 

On him alone her dewy rose, 

Who with his sweat the niggard soil 

Moistens through unremitting toil, 

That others gather of the bloom 

Tardy it bear, above his tomb 

Forgotten, though it fill the air 

With fragrance. On the souls of men 

These sacred truths to engrave, that there 

The high Ideal might attain 

To clearness, of a nobler life. 

He proudly hoped, and 'midst the strife 

And sorrows of our lot might shine, 

Foreshadowing dimly things Divine. 

And now as some fair blossom, still 

While in its heart the fruitful germ 

Lies hid, whose bloom and swtetness fill 

The air with promise, by some storm 

Is rudely crushed, its barren bloom 

Back to the elements again 

Restoring ; so into the tomb 

Must Clarence sink — the dreams in vain 

That he had dreamed — the proud hopes nursed — 



I08 DESTINY. 

Swift to the elements dispersed, 

Pale shades to haunt the air, nor take 

Substance from him, Humanity 

To help, her chains that she might break, 

And claim her lofty destiny. 

This thought to Ernest's anguish lent 
A keener force his soul that rent, 
As over Clarence where he lay 
Pallid upon his couch, he hung, 
While o'er the west the closing day 
A gold and crimson splendor flung. 
" Friend of my soul ! O Clarence, thou," 
He cried, " who life to me hast given, 
Am I then doomed to lose thee now. 
Myself the cause ? Is there in Heaven 
No mercy to stretch forth a hand 
And save me from the dread abyss 
Upon whose fatal brink I stand ? 
Can then such misery be as this ? 
Oh ! do our hearts for nothing count 
In Nature's cruel plan ? The groans 
Wrung from our anguish, do they mount 



DESTINY, 109 

To Heaven to return unheard, 
And echo through the heart in tones 
That pierce its fibres like a sword ? " 

" Nay, Ernest," Clarence gently said, 
" Let not thy spirit wildly thus 
Struggle with Fate ; nor think for us 
Alone the universe was made, 
That Nature in her course must pause, 
If her unchanging, sleepless laws 
Show in their justice of how slight 
And baseless value is the right 
We claim to be her master. Power 
Of knowledge is the priceless dower ; 
And only when his right he proves 
To win, for that herself he loves, 
This royal bride, will she bestow 
All that she has with generous hand 
Upon her lover, and forego, 
That proudly at her side he stand, 
For him her solitary state. 
But Ernest, these reflections grate 
Now on thy soul I see. To part 



no DESTINY. 

From thee thou thinkest moves my heart 

Too slightly. Yet not so ; but fain 

Would I again, as once before, 

Depriving of its sting the pain 

That racks thy spirit, peace restore 

And strength to thee ; that so the wound, 

When Faite divides our lives, profound 

Although it be, and leave a scar 

Forever, fester not, thy days 

To poison." Here he paused ; afar 

Upon the fading light his gaze 

He fixed. On Ernest then his eyes 

Turning, a pity infinite 

Within their depths, he said : " The night 

Is drawing near, and from the skies 

Darkness falls slow and silent, soon 

To wrap in her soft folds the Earth. 

But yonder see the crescent Moon 

With tender radiance shine, the dearth 

Of warmer light supplying ; so 

Shall Memory with reflected beams 

Cast o'er thy darkened sky a glow 

Serene from Friendship's vanished dreams." 



DESTINY. 1 1 1 

" O Clarence ! torture not my soul 
With these vain words that cannot stay 
The surging waves that o'er her roll 
Of anguish," Ernest cried ; "her sway 
Must Reason to a stronger power 
Yield in my breast. I only know 
That Destiny has in this hour 
Struck at my peace a fatal blow." 

At this a shadow overspread 
The face of Clarence ; then he said ; 
" Ernest, draw nearer ; lay thy hand 
In mine, and let us converse hold, 
Such as do friends, to some far land 
When one departs, who then unfold, 
Each to the other every thought 
Within his breast that hidden lies ; 
So face to face their spirits brought, 
They dwell in the Eternities ; 
Nor Time nor Space shall keep apart 
Their souls henceforward. In thy heart 
Shall I not then still live to keep 
Thy spirit sweet companionship ? 



112 DESTINY. 

Shall not my spirit still endure, 
Ernest, a power to mould for thee 
Existence with a touch as sure 
As though beside thee bodily 
I walked ; and shall thy hand not take 
The work that here I leave undone, 
A sacred trust that for my sake 
Wilt thou fulfil ; with each new sun 
That lights thee to thy task, the vow 
Renewing that thou mak'st me now?" 

" O Clarence ! would that never more 
For me might dawn again the light 
That thy dear face cannot restore," 
Said Ernest, " to my aching sight ! 
Would that my worthless life for thine 
Now could I on the blood-stained shrine 
Of Destiny lay down, or share 
With thee Oblivion ! " 

" O friend ! " 
Said Clarence, " fearest thou then the end 
Of all is this indeed ? that there, 
In yon illimitable space 



DESTINY. 113 

For me exists henceforth no place ; 

That this mysterious, viewless Power 

Within me, for one little hour 

That has endowed with faculties \ 

And form divine the atoms brought 

Together by its force, when these. 

Dispersed, but not destroyed, have sought 

Again their source, for that thou see 

Its course no more, shall cease to be ? 

No, while the Universe shall last. 

This Power within me that its vast 

And mighty scheme aspires to grasp — 

This Power, exulting that would clasp 

The Infinite, from height to height 

Soaring, in ever bolder flight. 

Till all the secrets of the spheres 

Before her open lie ; yet hears, 

'Mid syren voices that allure. 

Or deafening trumpet-tones, the still. 

Small Voice that says : ' The Law fulfil, 

For this is Life Eternal,' — sure 

And steadfast is the trust I hold, 

That while the Universe shall be. 



114 DESTINY. 

This Power that claims Infinity 

As her true portion^that would mould 

Thus to her higher uses Earth — 

That whatso'er it know of worth 

Gives to her dwelling, shall not own 

Obedience to a law less just 

Than governs matter ; dust to dust 

Returning, so, when from the zone 

She vanish, of our mortal sight, 

Shall spirit seek companionship 

With spirit ; through what times of sleep 

Or of eclipse she pass — what light 

Her entrance on a higher stage 

Shall guide, of Being, know I not ; 

But this I know, as knew the sage 

Of old, that whatso'er his lot, 

To him who follows Virtue still, 

In Life or Death can come no ill." 

*' Clarence ! " cried Ernest, as he ceased^ 
His eyes fixed on the darkening sky, 
In rapt abstraction, half-released 
The while, his spirit seemed to be 



DESTINY. 115 

From earthly bonds — " Oh ! with what words. 

Would'st thou console the anguish vain 

That rends my soul — her deepest chords 

Thus to unutterable pain, 

Moving with gentle touch. Oh ! now 

Indeed I know my wretchedness. 

Now when thou teachest me to bow 

To Destiny, thy power to bless 

My life, in losing thee, I know. 

Yet, fear not that I would forego 

The sacred hope again to own 

The bond that joins my life to thine. 

No ! from the depths of the Unknown, 

Clarence, thy soul a star shall shine 

To guide me safely to the Land 

No longer strange to me, since there 

Shalt thou to give me welcome stand, 

Who with thee half my life dost bear." 

Again, as Ernest ceased, a shade 
Of pain that o'er the features passed 
Of Clarence, in his breast betrayed 
The struggle ; though his soul had cast 



Il6 DESTINY. 

Aside indeed the bonds tg life 

And all the joys of life that held 

Her fettered still, not yet the strife 

Had ceased, that now the strength revealed 

To her of human sympathies. 

The burden that he could not ease 

For Ernest, of the grief that pressed 

With crushing weight upon his breast, 

Fell back on his own heart to lie. 

Unyielding there until the hand 

Of Death from every earthly band. 

With power supreme his soul should free. 

Yet soon had vanished every trace 

Of strife and suffering from his face ; 

And calm his accents, as he said. 

The while with gentle touch he laid 

On Ernest's hand his own. " So I, 

To other realms when I depart. 

With thee shall leave the nobler part, 

Dear friend, of my Mortality ; 

All the high hopes within my soul 

That I had cherished — to unroll 

The banner of the sacred rights 



DESTINY. wj 

Of men on Freedom's glorious heights ; 

Of Truth the champion, to throw down 

The gauntlet in her cause, nor cease 

The strife till Victory should crown 

Her brow with garlands green of Peace, — 

These hopes, that in the bud for me 

Have fallen blighted from Life's tree, 

For thee shall bloom and bear sweet fruit 

To nourish men ; for deep their root 

Lies in a generons soil ; and dews 

From heaven, and sunshine shall infuse, 

Fear not, into the sap that feeds 

Their life, a vital power, the needs 

Supplying of thdir growth. And one, 

One other trust when I am gone, 

Ernest, with thee I leave ; and now, 

Already when upon my brow 

The hand of Death lies cold, to thee 

Must I unveil my soul, nor keep 

One chamber there where thou shalt be 

A stranger ; falling thus asleep 

Before thee, I shall say : ' Good-night,* 

Knowing that all is well ; nor fear 



Il8 DESTINY. 

For thee nor me the morning light 
From slumber that shall wake us. Hear 
The secret, then, within my heart 
That I have guarded ; and if thine, 
Ernest, with keener pangs the dart 
Of pain pierce therefore, yet benign 
The wound, for that the poison there 
Of treachery lurks not, it shall heal 
Before the gangrene of Despair 
To Joy alike insensible 
And Grief can make it." Here he paused 
A moment, then in accents low 
Resumed : "If ever I have caused 
Thee aught of ill, before I go. 
First would I from thy love the boon 
Claim, of forgiveness." 

" Oh ! not thou," 
Cried Ernest, " in oblivion 
Dost need to hide thy deeds, nor bow 
The head in penitence. For me 
The bitterness of vain remorse ! 
For me the grasp of Misery, 
The soul that with resistless force 



DESTINY. 119 

Drags to unfathomed depths. My love, — 
O mockery ! that it should prove 
Thus powerless — with all of worth 
It owns, already have I given 
To thee, vain gift ! and if, henceforth. 
My spirit with this anguish riven, . 
Knows here no peace, so shall she know 
The sooner Peace eternal." 

" Nay," 
Said Clarence, " do we tread the way 
Of life, to gather flowers that grow 
Beside us then, with tears and cries 
Of pain the thorns and darkening skies 
Like children greeting ? Sink not down 
Despairing, Ernest, from thy crown 
Of bloom that some few blossoms fall, 
Though they be fair and fragrant ; all 
The beauty is not therefore gone 
From life ; still shines in heaven the sun ; 
Still blows the morning breeze ; and still 
Canst thou, alike through Good and 111 
Cling to one faithful hand." Again 
He paused ; again his brow with pain 



I20 DESTINY. 

Was clouded ; then he said : " Of her 
Whom here I leave, the minister, 
When I am gone, of Peace to thee, 
Now would I speak, dear friend. When first 
Tne heights to which Humanity- 
May climb, a revelation burst 
Upon my soul in Margaret, then 
The hope divine those heights to attain, 
Led by her hand, awhile I kept, 
A secret treasure in my breast — 
Nay, friend, look not so pale ; the rest 
Is quickly told. This hope that slept 
In darkness and in silence, soon. 
Like some bright vision of the night. 
Dispelled by daylight's chilling light, 
Again into Oblivion 
Sank, to the truth when it awoke." 
A flush of shame, as Clarence spoke, 
The face of Ernest overspread ; 
Then every trace of color fled. 
And l^ft the pallor of despair 
And unavailing anguish there. 

" For me, predestined to destroy," 



DESTINY, 121 

He cried, '"'' for thee the light and joy 

Of life — to whom blind Fate has given, 

While thou with empty hands stood by 

Silent, the choicest gift of Heaven, 

Thou on the shrine of Destiny 

Thy life hast laid, a sacrifice ; 

For mine the inestimable price 

Paid, of thy life that might atone 

For many a wrong that Earth has known — 

O Clarence ! tell me for this grief 

Is there in Earth or Heaven relief?" 

'' Nay, have I wrought thee, then, a wrong 
So deep ? " said Clarence ; "" so thy heart 
Must find in this when I depart, 
The medicine to make it strong 
To bear its pain — that all of worth 
That in me dwells, go not with me 
From hence, but with my memory 
Live in thy life, to better Earth." 

*' Oh ! fear not that the price in vain, 
Clarence," cried Ernest, "hast thou paid; 



122 DESTINY. 

No ; while my spirit shall retain 

Her consciousness, this hour shall fade 

Never from Memory, nor the vow 

Be broken that I make thee now. 

Henceforth my days I dedicate 

To this — the promise to redeem, 

That Nature, when she formed thy great 

And noble spirit gave — the Dream 

That lived within thy soul to make 

Reality for men in all 

That in me lies, for thy dear sake." 

" So, Ernest, shall I peaceful fall 

Asleep," said Clarence, " when the night . 

Around me closes ; but before 

My spirit leave of Earth the shore 

Familiar, of the Infinite 

Within the shadowy realm to dwell, 

To Margaret would I bid farewell." 

Softly the door, ere Clarence ceased, 
Was opened, and within the room 
Stood Margaret ; slowly in the West 



DESTINY, 123 

The light was fading, but the gloom 
Grew, as she entered, less profound, 
Lit by the Moon's pale beams that threw 
A tender radiance around, 
A deeper pallor to the hue 
Of anguish lending in her face. 

" So," Clarence softly said, " this grace 
Has Fate accorded me — to close 
Mine eyes 'neath tranquil skies, a dawn 
Serene that promise ; to repose 
Sinking, as, when the day is gone, 
The tired child lies down to rest, 
His latest look of consciousness 
Resting on all his heart holds best 
And dearest." 

" We the bitterness, 
Not thou," said Ernest, " of this hour 
Must taste. — Behold the price that Fate 
Asks for the life her mocking power 
That spares, to make it desolate, 
And tell me, Margaret, if the pain 
That rends my soul can ever know, 



124 DESTINY. 

While Thought her empire holds, again 
Assuagement. Tell me for this woe 
Is there in this wide Universe 
A cure ?" 

'' O Clarence ! if the force 
Of anguish wring a selfish cry 
Of suffering from the breast, forgive 
Our weakness," Margaret said ; " too high 
Thy spirit ever moved, to live 
Amid our meaner cares, content ; 
Nor soaring, seek her element, 
There by the law immutable. 
Called, of her Being ; but if we, 
In fetters of the senses still 
Who struggle, with dim vision see 
Only the void thou leavest here — 
That thee no more, a Presence dear 
Shall we perceive, our steps beside ; 
Forgetting that no walls divide 
The world of spirit, like the sea 
That flows around the world of Sense, 
An ever-during Unity, 
Descending with sweet influence 



DESTINY. 125 

In gentle dews, our dull, cold clay 
To soften, that the vital ray 
Its torpid mass may penetrate — 
If, Clarence, we resist the fate 
Thy life that severs from our own, 
Because our human hearts have grown 
In living union to thy heart, 
And so, from thine when torn apart, 
They bleed with human anguish — thou, 
O friend ! already on thy brow 
Who wearest, of a Peace divine 
The solemn splendors, canst behold 
A sorrow that may not be thine, 
Compassionate ; thy love can fold 
Within its ample shelter all 
Our weakness." 

Here a shadow light 
Over the spirit seemed to fall, 
Of Clarence, from the Infinite, 
Veiling her from their gaze awhile. 
Then from his lips the pallid smile 
Fading, her hand, as Margaret knelt 
Beside his couch, he took and said 



126 DESTINY. 

Softly, " My soul a space has dwelt 
Blindfold 'midst mysteries ; but led 
Back by thy voice to earth again, 
Margaret, the pangs of earthly pain 
With those she loves must she endure. 
But Love the wounds of Love shall cure, 
And what remains shall dearer be 
For what is gone. My Memory — 
Oh ! let me bear with me this hope — 
Shall give your lives a larger scope, 
Dear friends, that reaching forth to clasp 
Your friend, the Infinite shall grasp ; 
Until, than all that real seems, 
It grow more real ; and the Dreams 
Of Youth, by Hope inspired, pale 
Beside the splendors of the True, 
The soul with strength that can renew, 
In Life or Death that shall not fail." 

He ceased, and silence filled the room, 
Unbroken, for a peace profound 
Nature, reposing, breathed around 
Without. Silently through the gloom 



DESTINY. I2y 

The stars came forth ; her silver rays 

Silent the tranquil Moon sent down 

From Heaven's blue vault. Clarence, his gaze 

Full of a peace in unison 

With Nature's, fixing there, at last, — 

" Ye worlds," he said, " that in the vast 

And unknown realms of Space reveal 

To man a grandeur that the soul 

Within her depths may vaguely feel, 

Though human wisdom shall unroll 

Never to human ken the page 

Whereon is traced the lore no sage 

May read with mortal sight, for me 

Within your orbits do ye move, 

In all your wondrous harmony, 

Henceforward meaningless ? Above 

The grasp forever shall ye shine 

Of our Humanity, aside 

Casting the fetters that confine 

Her soaring spirit, when the wide 

And unexplored extent of Space 

She enter, that her dwelling-place 

Shall be henceforth ? This glimpse alone 



128 DESTINY. 

Of all your wonders shall the Mind 

Catch, that illumes the narrow zone 

Of earthly Being ? Unconfined 

By limitations that control 

Her powers here, shall she not pierce 

The secrets of the Universe 

At last exultant ? " 

Silence fell 
As Clarence ceased, a space on those 
Who watched beside his couch. The veil 
Whose folds around the portals close, 
That open to the Infinite, 
Darkened his spirit to their sight 
Again awhile. Then on his brow 
A sudden glory shone of Peace 
And Joy ineffable. 

" And now. 
Not," he resumed, "in bitterness 
' Of soul, nor in despair, must be 
Our parting ; for the hour has come 
When we must say farewell. To thee, 
Ernest, a light that shall illume 
The vista of the coming years, 



DESTINY. 129 

The steadfast trust that ministers 
Now to my peace I leave — the bond 
That joins our lives to knit again 
In closer union, when beyond 
The boundaries of mortal ken 
We meet once more. And thee my place, 
Margaret, I leave to fill ; that here 
Our Ernest still may know the grace 
And power of Friendship — still the dear 
And strong support of Friendship claim 
In pain or weakness — sacred tie 
Whose bond is freedom ; in whose name 
Our lives to such sweet harmony 
Might move, did we but own its sway. 
As might from Chaos Order draw. 
And, joyful, the Eternal Law 
Herself that gives, the Soul obey." 

And silence fell upon them, deep 
And solemn ; from their view had passed 
His Presence, in their souls to keep 
Alive the bond that with the vast, 
-Mysterious realm of the Unknown . 



130 DESTINY. 

Unites the Visible — unheard 
His voice henceforth, a deathless tone 
Vibrating in their hearts, the Word 
Divine that it might echo. So 
The chasm our Being that divides 
Here from the Infinite, where flow 
Of Life and Death the ceaseless tides, 
Was bridged for them ; and in some hour 
Of ecstasy, their souls the power 
Transcending, of our mortal state. 
Beyond the bounds might penetrate 
That close us in, and gleams discern 
Of quenchless fires afar that burn, — 
Light of an endless Day that pours 
Her splendors on celestial shores. 



CYBELE. 

ARTH, for the evil dreams that haunt her 

sleep, 

Though weary, cannot rest ; 
But counts, through long, long nights, of those who 
weep, 
The tears that chill her breast. 

In vain by shores remote and desolate, 

She seeks her hollow caves — 
There, too, of mortal anguish penetrate 

The sounds, through storm-lashed waves, 

In vain she seeks the populous city, proud 

Record of deathless names 
And high achievements ; for above the loud 

Glad Psean that proclaims 
131 



132 CYBELE. 

Wide to the spheres the triumph of her sons, 

With god-Uke step who tread, 
.She hears the unheeded wail of little ones 

Who piteous cry for bread. 

She hears through festal strains of Want the cry, 

Despair's expiring groan ; 
When no fond breast save only hers is nigh, 

Dying to lean upon. 

In vain the silence of her valleys green 

She seeks, where bland airs woo 
To slumber ; and the skies a charm serene 

Shed, soft as falling dew. 

In vain ; her sons their peaceful solitude 

Invade with impious rage ; 
And sanguinary war in deadly feud. 

Brothers on brothers wage. 

Her breast maternal, whence their nourishment — 

They drew, insane they tear 
With sacrilegious hate, till stained and rent 

Her garments, wan and bare 



CYBELE. 133 

Beneath high Heaven, the scorn of sister spheres, 

She lies, and cannot veil 
The shame and anguish from her radiant peers, 

That brand her forehead pale. 

Below the cold, white Moon the lurid fires 

That on her altars burn, 
Show ghastly as each short-lived flame expires. 

Or kindles in its turn. 

Unholy rites that desecrate the graves 
Where sleep her hallowed Dead — 

Base worship of a Sorceress by her slaves 
In willing bondage led. 

A Sorceress vile that takes of Happiness 

The semblance — Shade divine 
That lures in vain pursuit, and vanishes 

The eager grasp within. 

For where can Earth in all her wide domain 

The heavenly visitant 
A fit abiding-place prepare where stain 

Of Sin is not, or Want ? 



134 CYBELE. 

A lesser goddess must the vows receive, 

Unworthy of her pure, 
Calm service, in whose worship joys shall live 

The senses that allure. 

A goddess in whose veins with ichor blent, 

Flows warmly some red blood ; 
Whose worshippers with no cold ravishment 

In holy solitude 

Approach her shrine, but press with eager foot. 

The fellow-worshipper 
That tramples in his path, in vain his suit 

Who struggles to prefer. 

Oh ! shall we stand on Fortune's heights, content 

Beneath our feet to see 
Brothers with hopeless toil and anguish rent,. . 

Press on despairingly ? 

Shall we, who breathe of her fair haunts, the air. 

Stretch forth no hand to them 
Who, reaching up from black gulfs of Despair, 

Would touch her garment's hem ? 



CYBELE. 135 

Would touch her hem in some forlorn, wild hope 

That healed their misery, 
On Life's far verge for Happiness some scope, 

Or for Content might be. 

Alas ! by zephyrs lulled, o'er beds that blow, 

Of poppies in the sun, 
Their crimson glories haughtily that show, 

How can the feeble groan 

Our senses reach, that wrung from wretchedness. 

Upon the wind is borne, 
To swell of Heaven the thunders, when through stress 

Of heat her clouds are torn. 

Children of one fond mother, oh ! no more 

At Fortune's cruel shrine, 
Let us with dark, unnatural rites adore. 

Ready to pour the wine 

With reckless hand, of crimson life-blood pressed 

Beneath the iron heel 
Of Selfishness in silken raiment dressed, 

P'rom hearts like ours that feel ; 



136 CYBELE. 

From hearts of our Humanity that share 

The common heritage ; 
That thrill with hope, that sicken with despair, 

That burn with love or rage. 

Oh ! shall we barter for a gilded toy- 
That custom tarnishes, 

Of all Life's fleeting bliss the pures't joy 
Our feeble grasp can seize — 

To wipe away their tears from eyes that weep ; 

The bleeding wounds to bind 
Of hearts with anguish torn ; the weak to keep 

From utter loss ; the blind 

Of spiritual sight their vision to restore ; 

The joy and harmony 
Divine of Nature in the ear to pour, 

That cold and deaf would be ? 

N"o longer like a plague-struck ship, let Earth 
Through Space pursue her way ; 

Where wild Delirium, or reckless Mirth, 
Or Fear holds ghastly sway ; 



CYBELE. 137 

That rudder broken, chart and compass lost, 

Shrouds and look-out unmanned, 
Drifts aimlessly, unheeding, billow-tossed, 

Where looms the distant Land. 

Oh ! for a swift-winged current of cle^r air 

To sweep away the clouds. 
Whose gloom the Universe divinely fair 

From our dim vision shrouds ; 

That looking forth beyond the bounds of Time 

And Space our souls descry 
Some reflex of the radiance sublime 

That lights Eternity. 

Whose rays the summits striking, of the heights 

Her eagle-flight where Thought 
Exulting takes, with such supreme delights 

May stir the soul, as fraught 

With vital power, her sleeping forces wake 

To Action, heralding 
The Dawn, while yet afar it lingers when it break, 

That endless Day shall bring. 



AUTUMN DAYS. 
Projitons de nos dernier s beaux jours. 



IN Nature's breast life's languid tide 
I No more by hopes or fears 



Is stirred ; no power can turn aside 
The end her bloom that nears. " 



Yet in her face her coming doom 

No sign of death betrays ; 
More brightly glows her dying bloom 

The swifter it decays. 

So we, of Life the Summer done, 

With calmer pulse await 
Whate'er may come with each new sun 

Of good or evil fate. 
138 



A UTUMN DA YS. 1 39 

And in decay, as Nature wears, 

While skies are soft, a smile, 
So too, while linger balmy airs, 

Let us be glad awhile. 

What though each breeze but lull to rest 

The consciousness of pain. 
Its life-blood from the torpid breast 

With surer power to drain. 

Better forget than wake to all 

The bitterness of Fate — 
Hopes cherished in the bud to fall 

Or, mocking, bloom too late. 

Better Oblivion than the sense 

Of hopeless, helpless 111 — 
Of life's best gift the incompeter 

Our longing hearts to fill. 

Better forever sleep than wake 

To see the Goblin Fear 
Each ghastly shape beside us take 

In turn. Grief's harbinger. 



I40 AUTUMN DAYS. 

Better forever sleep than know- 
In vain our waking toil, 

Our strength, our skill, of Good the foe 
To conquer or to foil. 

Better forever sleep than feel, 

As one who in his tomb 
Waking, to Heaven makes vain appeal, 

The horror of our doom. 

To know that from our living death 

But Death can set us free ; 
That seeming to breathe vital breath 

All is but mockery ! 

For what avail the dreams, while yet 

Life holds her empire vain 
Within us, that the forces set 

In motion, of the brain ? 

Our struggles, that exhaust the life 
That they would fain preserve ; 

Our fears, that in the deadly strife 
Reason and strength unnerve ; 



AUTUMN DAYS. H^ 

Can they less certain make the end ? 

Less terrible our doom ? 
Or to the ghastly horrors lend 

Abatement, of the tomb ? 

No ! better death than fear of death 

Within the soul to bear — 
Corruption's seed, with charnel breath 

Poisoning the ambient air. 

Then let us seek the only good 

Life still has power to give — 
A balm to soothe the restless blood, 

Till we forget we live. 

Why ask, in these calm Autumn days 

The tranquil depths that lie 
Around us veiled in golden haze 

To pierce with curious eye ? 

Unquestioning rather let us drink 

Content, the cup of Peace, 
That robs the brain of power to think, 

And gives to pain surcease. 



142 AUTUMN DAYS. 

Let us, for that our days are few 
And short, crown every hour 

With flowers, whose cups of glowing hue 
Hold drops of Lethean power. 

What though no more the perfumed rose 

Of June the senses thrill 
With rapture from the balm that flows 

Its petals that distil ; 

Within its heart the poppy holds, 

Though odorless, a boon 
As dear as in its breast enfolds 

The fragrant rose of June. 

With poppies, then, among the com 

While still they redly glow, 
Life's autumn days let us adorn, 

Oblivion that bestow. 



DESPONDENCY. 

NOTHER morning dawns with baleful light 
Slow on my sight ; 
And my sad heart that found from gnawing grief 

A respite brief, 
Must wake once more, and its dull weight of pain 
Take up again. 

The golden Morning that to others brings 

Hope on her wings, 
Brings none to me ; the tranquil Evening's close 

No sweet repose. 
From all her countless orbs, no ray of light, 

The starry Night. 

In vain for me with myriad-sounding voice 

Does Earth rejoice ; 

143 



1 44 DE SP ONDENC V. 

And with her thousand tints of land and sky- 
Entrance the eye ; 

The Psean seems a dirge, the beauty all 
A funeral pall. 

And Earth herself one vast and lonely tomb ; 

All that her womb 
Yields, she devours, as did the god of old 

His offspring. Gold 
Gleams the abundant corn that smiling waves 

O'er silent graves. 

O fatal thought ! Endeavor that unnerves, 

What purpose serves 
At last life's best result ? Fame, Glory, seem 

An idle dream 
In Truth's cold dawn, whose greenest garlands bloom 

To grace a tomb. 

How swells the soul to-day with conquering Pride ! 

Fate seems defied ; 
How works intent on each new scheme of gain, 

The busy brain ! 



DESPONDENCY. 145 

What fond illusions thrill the lover's breast, 
His hopes contest ! 

To-morrow comes ; what honors now avail 

When knocks the pale 
Stern Messenger of Fate ? How dull and cold 

The all-potent gold ! 
No more the breast can Love's divinest thrill 

With rapture fill. 

So in his turn hath each the bitter draught 

Of Sorrow quaffed ; 
And each in turn, that cometh after me 

So too shall see, 
Of Earth's best gifts — Fame, Power, Happiness, 

The nothingness ! 



i 



INVOCATION TO DEATH. 

NGEL that at the gate 
Of Life dost wait, 



And in thy chill embraces dost receive 

All souls that leave 
This shadow-peopled fever-dream, to rest 

At last on thy cold breast — 

Come, friendly Death, and kind, 

And round me wind 
Thy cool, soft arms, that gently lulled to sleep, 

No more I weep 
Salt tears that well from my dull, heavy brain, 

Yet lighten not its pain. 

For Hope my breast has fled ; 

Life's tangled thread 
Its silken smoothness, and its soft, bright dye 

Has lost for aye. 
Then sever thou the bonds of Destiny, 

Last of the Fatal Three ! 
146 



INVOCATION TO DEATH. 1 47 

Forlorn and tempest-tost, 

I wander, lost 
In the dark mazes of a pathless wood, 

Whose solitude 
No cheerful sound of bird or running stream 

Makes glad ; nor gleam 
Of pleasant sunlight falling through the leaves, 

Its baleful gloom relieves. 

But spectres pale and gaunt 

My pathway haunt ; 
From out whose eyeless sockets grim Despair 

His stony stare 
Fixes upon me, while like icy bands. 

Their fleshless hands 
Close round my shuddering heart, till horror- 
chilled. 

All sense save one is stilled — 

A longing wild for peace; 

That so may cease 
At last the booming of the hungry waves 

From soundless caves 
Of Darkness flowing, that relentless roll 

Around my unresting soul. 



148 INVOCATION TO DEATH. 

Herald of Peace ! then come, 

And bear me home, 
Safe 'neath the shelter of thy dusky wing. 

True Friend ! no King 
Of Terrors thou, whose touch all ills can cure. 

Steadfast and sure, 
Amidst the broken idols of my Youth, 

Lives this atoning Truth. 




FREEDOM AND LOVE. 

H ! that my lips with sacred fire 
Were touched, that I might speak the word 
That, leaping from the impassioned lyre, 
Should flash electric through love's chord ; 

That this responsive to the voice 

That greeting man proclaimed him free, 

Thrilling through earth should bid rejoice 
The great heart of Humanity ! 

Freedom and Love ! divinest gifts 

By gracious Heaven on Man bestowed ; 

To Heaven itself Love's magic lifts 

The soul where Freedom's light hath glowed. 

For he whose breast hath never felt 

The rapture Liberty inspires — 
Love's fire his soul shall never melt, 

Its spirit in his grasp expires. 
149 



150 FREEDOM AND LOVE. 

A nobler destiny is ours 

Than despots of our slaves to make ; 
And scorning Heaven's life-giving showers, 

Our thirst at turbid waves to slake. 

O brothers ! cast the bonds aside 
That in a slavery blind and base 

Have held our souls ; and deified, 
No more let Self usurp Love's place. 

From every clime, in every tongue 

The greeting shout from man to man : 

Freedom, full-armed, from Light hath sprung, 
To end the strife that greed began. 

And Love, divinely fair and bright, 

Shall crown with Peace the new-born reign ; 

Justice return to earth ; and Right, 
Not Might, o'er men hold sway again. 




ODE TO VALOR. 

VALOR ! of the ancient world 
Chief glory, to thy native skies 
Returning, hopeless hast thou furled 

Thy banner with averted eyes ; 
Unwilling, scenes where Liberty 
Once dwelt the abode of slaves to see. 

Hast thou our race degenerate left 
Forever to the pangs that tear 

The coward soul of strength bereft 
The evils of her state to bear ; 

Besieging with vain clamor God 

And man to ease her of her load ? 

In affluence must our treasures lose 
The power to move our hearts to joy ; 

And in Life's cup shall Love diffuse 
The poison Peace that shall destroy ? 
151 



152 ODE TO VALOR. 

More fatal to our happiness 

Than what we lack, what we possess. 

Shall Fear with iron sceptre rule 

The shadowy realm of the Unknown ; 

And all the ambient air be full 

Of spectral shapes between the Sun 

And our fair world, like clouds that come 

To darken Day with baleful gloom ? 

Unlike the martyrs, who, of old. 
Bore joyful witness to the Truth 

With life, to all but Pleasure cold, 

Its golden hours shall generous Youth, 

Gay butterflies with feverish haste 

Chasing, in turn to crush them, waste. 

And Age in narrow creeds confine 

The life that pushing toward the light, 

In darkness feels the heat divine 
That draws it toward the Infinite ; 

Nor dare to speak the living word 

The soul in solitude has heard. 



ODE TO VALOR. 1 53 

O Valor ! to our Earth return ; 

Some drop from out thy chalice give 
To men, that in our veins shall burn, 

And living, we may truly live ; 
Lord of himself and Destiny, • 
Who nothing fears, alone is free. 



LINES. 

(Suggested by Mrs. Browning's " De Profundis.") 

HE dusky shades of gathering Night 
Have drowned in darkness Day's warm 
light ; 
Her golden tresses' last faint gleam 
Has sunk beneath the circling stream, 
Investing Nature, like a pall, 
And silence reigns o'er all. 

O silent stream ! whose waters roll 
Between my vexed and weary soul, 
And those far regions of content, 
Where ruleth Love omnipotent ; 
And Hope, with folded wings, at last 
Doth rest, her exile past. 

Across thy waves that bring more near, 
Whilst they divide, are wafted clear 
154 



LINES. 155 

The echoes of a Voice more deep 
Than thimder-tones, that deafening leap 
From cloud to cloud ; yet underlies, 
So sweet, all harmonies. 



Eternal Wisdom, like a dove, 
Broods over all things, moved by Love ; 
And mindful of our human pain. 
The devious pathway making plain, 
Amidst the gloom of Sorrow's night 
Proclaims " Let there be light." 



Methinks the very Dead rejoice. 
Hearing within their graves that Voice ; 
Some touch of human sympathy 
Stirs in their hearts, that, cold and dry, 
Forgotten in their shrouds, respond 
To Nature's deathless bond. 



And angel-anthems, to the Throne 
Like incense rising, catch a tone 



156 LINES. 

More sweet and solemn as they fade 
Into the awful silence made 
By those dread accents, clear and still, 
That Earth and Heaven fill. 

And o'er my soul a Morning breaks, 
Whose sudden splendor swift awakes 
Each cheerful Thought and Purpose strong 
Within my breast that slumbered long, 
Waiting the voice that thus should say, 
"Arise ! for it is day." 

Arise ! the night is past. Behold, 
My soul, those beams of living gold 
That chase the shadows of the night, 
Thy way to earnest action light ; 
So thou at eve, thy labor done, 
Mayest rest, the guerdon won. 



SERENADE. 

FROM THE SPANISH. 




JLEEP, sleep, Beloved ; let thy dreams 
To murmurs glide of silver streams, 



Blent with soft strains of woodland bird, 

And fairy music, faintly heard, 
While in the silent night I keep 
Lone vigil. Sleep, Beloved, sleep. 

Sleep, sleep, Beloved ; let the light 
From southern skies illume the night 
For thee, and Fairy-land transfuse 
To thy bright dreams her magic hues ; 
In gloom and darkness while I keep 
Lone vigil. Sleep, Beloved, sleep. 

Sleep, sleep. Beloved ; round thee bland 
And tepid airs from Fairy-land 

157 



158 SERENADE. 

Breathe softly, bringing sweets from flowers 
That deathless bloom in fairy bowers ; 
Forlorn and joyless, while I keep 
Lone vigil. Sleep, Beloved sleep 

Sleep, sleep. Beloved ; angels take 
The charge of friends, and happy make 
Thy dreams, that they a foretaste be 
Of day's most dear reality ; 

Friendless, forsaken, while I keep 
Lone vigil. Sleep, Beloved, sleep. 

Sleep, sleep, Beloved ; let no sound 
Disturb the peace that wraps thee round, 
Of my sad heart's complaint ; but still 
Let tranquil joys thy bosom fill ; 
Helpless and hopeless, while I keep 
Lone vigil. Sleep, Beloved, sleep. 



TO A MOTHER, ON THE DEATH OF A 
YOUNG MARRIED DAUGHTER. 



"^HY dost thou weep ? Because the lot 
That all must share, is shared by thee, 



And Grief, her face awhile forgot, 
Returns to bear thee company ? 



So does the child, his task who learns 
With tears, before the powers that dwell 

In it for good his soul discerns, 
Against the discipline rebel. 



Yet from the cold dark clay of Earth 
Nature ordains alone shall spring • 

Her flowers, and in the soul, its birth 
Her bloom shall take from suffering. 
159 



l6o TO A MOTHER, ON THE DEATH OF 

Then shall we waste in anguish vain 

The hours, for Nature's changeless law ? 

Or plant some seed while sun and rain 

Its bloom and fragrance thence may draw ? 

Bloom, like the plant o'er Alpine snows 
A rosy splendor soft that spreads, 

That on bleak heights of Sorrow grows, 
And o'er their bleakness beauty sheds. 

Bloom, that, when fading fast away 
The light of Earth, in darkness lie 

Her valleys, brightening in the day 

Beyond those heights, shall cheer the eye. 

Is there no heart more bruised than thine 
Into whose wounds thy hand may pour 

A little balm ; and with the wine 

Of Wisdom strengthen from thy store ? 

No 111 whose shadow heavy lies 

On some poor soul, thou mayest avert, 

If thou canst turn away thine eyes 
From gazing on a cureless hurt ? 



A YOUNG MARRIED DAUGHTER. l6l 

Oh ! think not that with its own joy 

The heart rejoices only. No ; 
To taste of bliss without alloy 

Is to assuage another's woe. 

Why dost thou weep ? So high a price 
On what she loses dost thou set ; 

Or that from her this sacrifice 

Fate too might ask, dost thou forget ? 

More bitter are the pangs that rend 
Thy soul, that thou the pain dost bear 

Alone of parting ; and the end 
Has easier made to her thy care ? 

Not so was it with those, her reign 
When Terror held, who saw nor wept, 

Their loved die first, her, sharpest pain 
Content that Fate for them had kept. 

Heroic souls, who could resign 

Existence, holding it well-spent. 
Of Truth that to the worth divine 

Their blood its testimony lent. 



l62 TO A MOTHER, ON THE DEA TH OF 

Counting it as of lesser weight 

That storms or sunshine rule the skies, 

Than guided by Truth's needle, straight 
That they might steer should storms arise. 

And why should'st thou of meaner mold 
Or lesser stature count thy soul, 

That Happiness content she hold 

The highest Good that crowns Life's goal ? 

Is there no voice her depths within, 

That tells her not in Sorrow lie 
The seeds of Death ; but that through Sin 

Alone shall Loss eternal be ? 

That all the circle can embrace, 
Narrow and dim, of mortal sight, 

Is but a point in star-sown space 
That reaches to the Infinite. 

And, therefore, to thy mortal ken 

A Presence though invisible. 
Not less is she a denizen 

With thee, of realms of Being still ; 



A YO UNG MA RRIED DA UGHTER. 1 63 

Not less the Sun, in ways apart, 
That lights to its remote confines 

Of Space each habitant, athwart 

The Orb eclipsed for thee, now shines. 

And whatsoever be the fate 

That waits on her in the Unknown, 

With interests of eternal weight 
That it must be in unison. 




DIRGE. 

TREW flowers on her bier ; 
The fairest flower here 
Lies withered, of them all ; 
Ere opening, it could yield 
The sweets that lay concealed 

Within its calyx held in patient thrall. 



A bud by rude winds broke — 
At Fortune's cruel stroke 

She shivered first, then sighed 
At the unkind assault ; 
Then pitying the fault, 

She closed her eyes, and cast her pain aside. 

So bring, though all their bloom 
And delicate perfume 
Unheeded by her be, 
164 



DIRGE, l6$ 

The flowers she loved so well, 
And let them, silent, tell 

In Death 's cold shade, of Immortality. 

The fragrant mignonette, 
The blue-eyed violet, 

White roses, heliotrope 
The lily of the vale. 
The snow-drop, pure and pale. 

Tuberoses, and the Flower that speaks of Hope. 

And humblest of them all, 
With blood-tipped coronal. 

The gold-eyed daisy bring ; 
To every flower that grew, 
Her heart's fond faith was true. 

Then meet it is that round her now they cling. 

Here where upon her breast 
Folded, her pale hands rest, 

Place lilies, white and pure ; 
The thoughts were pure as they, 
Dove-like, that brooding lay 

Above the hopes that nestled there secure. 



1 66 DIRGE, 

And on that placid brow 
Whose light is veiled now, 

Shall rest the immortelle ; 
Wreathed with the Fower of Thought, 
And pale moss-rose buds fraught 

With sweetness ; with such friends she shall 
sleep well. 

So ; all is done. Compose 
Her limbs in still repose, 

Nor toil that breaks, nor strife ; 
Then yield her to the clay, 
And in her coffin lay 

The hopes, frail flowers, that clustered round 
her life. 




CAPTIVITY. 

ITHIN a lofty palace-tower, 
Embosomed in a fragrant bower 
Of roses, bright with morning dew, 
Softening the sunlight, passing through, 
A captive wildwood songster poured 
A lay of such divine accord, 
So dulcet soft and silver clear. 
Unconsciously I paused to hear ; 
And lingering in dreamy mood, 
In that enchanted neighborhood, 
Sweet on my soul the melody 
Stole, a remembered pain to be — 
A song from bitter sources fed. 
That thus my heart interpreted : 

" Oh ! for the forest's cool, green shade ; 
The freedom of the forest glade ; 
167 



1 68 CAPTIVITY. 

The old, familiar, forest trees, 
All glad with sylvan melodies ; 
Their mossy roots with wild flowers gay. 
And many-tinted in the ray 
That struggling through the leaves lit up 
With splendor many a flower-cup ; 
The rivulet, that, clear and bright, 
Imprisoried held the noonday light 
Or to the tranquil Summer Moon 
Still carolling its cheerful tune, 
Lulled in their safe and downy nest 
Our young ones' calm, untroubled rest. 

" Oh ! for the broad and bright expanse 

Of Nature's genial countenance; 

The fresh and fragrant forest air, 

Of Life the spirit everywhere 

That breathed, like all-pervading Love, 

Diffusing joy around, above. 

"Oh ! for the sylvan Summer Dawn, 
When friendly stars, that, one by one, 



CAPTIVITY. 169 

Weary with watching, closed their eyes, 
Withdrew from the awakening skies. 
In every grove while joyous song 
To song responded, loud and long — 
Each wild-wood songster's matin lay 
To greet the coming of the Day. 
Oh ! for the pleasant Summer rain 
Gladdening the sultry woods again ! 
The ripe fruit hanging from the tree, 
And berries wild, a banquet free 
For Nature's careless children spread 
From Nature's stores unlimited ; 
Oh ! for the birds, the bees, the flowers, 
The sharers of those happy hours." 

He ceased, yet still the plaintive sound 
Seemed lingering in the air around, 
Diffusing through it a vague sense 
Of Doubt, with saddening influence, 
That dimmed, like clouds, the radiant day — 
Clouds the sun could not drive away. 
Poor captive ! Nature made in vain 
His heritage, her wide domain ; 



lyo CAPTIVITY. 

In vain his wings with power endowed 
To pierce the heaven-ascending cloud ; 
One grain of wheat from out the sheaf, 
From boundless forests one poor leaf 
Was counted bounty liberal 
From him to whom he gave his all ; 
His flight that might have sought the stars, 
Curbed by his prison's gilded bars. 

And yet his master held him dear, 

Well pleased his sweet wild songs to hear ; 

And often, doubtless, would requite 

The efforts of his favorite 

With fond caresses ; and should death 

Untimely still his slender breath. 

Perchance a silent tear would shed 

On his lost songster's lowly bed — 

The meed of freedom sacrificed 

To please a thoughtless egoist. 

Child of the woods ! the splendor rare 

His eye that greeted everywhere. 

To him seemed dull and faded, when 

He thought of his own native glen. 



CAPTIVITY. 171 

For his own native haunts he pined, 
And fellowship with his own kind ; 
For Freedom, heritage of all 
Who breathe the vital air, and call 
Their common Father, Him who gave 
Life both to tyrant and to slave. 
Lacking this wealth he still was poor, 
Rich in all else that could allure — 
Alas ! no splendor can illume 
The darkness of the captive's doom. 



LINES TO AN EXO'LTC PLANT 

OOR exile from the sunny land 

Where Nature's wise and friendly care 



First made thy fragile leaves expand 
Beneath the warm and vital air — 

What adverse Fate thy tender bloom 
Transferred to an ungenial soil, 

Where paler suns thy days illume, 
And ruder airs thy sweets despoil ? 

Of all thy kindred thou most fair ! 

Recipient of a fatal grace — 
In solitary pride to wear 

The fleeting glories of thy race. 

The parent flower whose life with thine 
In sweet mysterious union blent, 

That drew to feed thy bloom divine, 
Its virtue from each element — 

172 



LINES TO AN EXOTIC PLANT. 1^3 

When southern airs with fragrance fraught, 

Thy petals stir, do they respond 
To tidings from far regions brought, 

That wake the memory of that bond ? 

Do dreams of that evanished time 

Within thy calyx hover now, 
And memories of thy natal clime 

Thy cold existence still endow ? 

Do memories alone remain, 

Or in thy cup some atom lies, 
Left by warm drops of tropic rain 

That sprang to kiss thee from the skies ? 

Inwoven with thy Being glows 
The genial sunshine still that first 

Thy folded petals bade unclose, 
And into perfect beauty burst'? 

And when the pallid day is past 
Of this cold hemisphere, do gleams 

From southern constellations cast,- 
Revisit thee again in dreams ? 



174 LINES TO AN EXOTIC PLANT. 

Do glowing noons and purple eves 
In soft reflected splendors shine, 

With shadows of broad tropic leaves, 
Of palm and interlacing vine ? 

Alas ! for thee the vine and palm 

Shall bud no more ; no more be heard 

By thee amid the airless calm 

Of golden noons the humming-bird. 

The glancing wings of butterflies, 

With southern splendors lit, shall gleam 

For thee no more ; thy native skies 

With light eclipsed for thee, shall beam. 

And thou a little while shalt bloom. 

The glory of a hostile soil ; 
Awhile shalt waste thy rich perfume 

On winds that woo thee to despoil. 

Then, chilled by Death's untimely frost. 
For tropic skies no more shalt pine ; 

But odor, grace, and beauty lost, 
Content, thy barren state resign. 




TO A HUSBAND. 

O, sordid soul ! the depths regain, 
From whence an angel drew 



With pitying hand thy steps in vain, 
To thy base nature true. 

Too long the whiteness of her robe 
Thy touch impure has soiled ; 

And sufferings, Life's rose that rob 
Of bloom, its sweets despoiled. 

A flower crushed beneath thy heel, 

Fast withering she lies ; 
Yet Death's pale hues alone reveal 

Grief's sacred mysteries. 

Leave her a little space to breathe 
Earth's genial atmosphere ; 

And round her pallid life to wreathe 
Late blossoms of the year ; 

175 



I7<3 TO A HUSBAND. 

Her eyes, undimmed by tears, to raise 
Awhile to God's blue sky ; 

And on His Universe to gaze^ 
Moved by its harmony. 

Have God and Nature given to thee 

Indeed the fatal right 
A soul to rob of liberty, 

Whose being is infinite ? 

To make of her instincts divine 

A mockery and a jest ; 
And bid her pour her soul's rich wine 

To idols, at thy hest — 

Her heart to make an instrument 
Whose living chords vibrate. 

The echo of thy moods, content 
Passive thy touch to wait ? 

Why have they given, if this be so. 

Her mind its vision sure ; 
And kindled in her soul the glow 

Of aspirations pure ? 



TO A HUSBAND. I// 

Why have they crowned her Hfe with all 

Its wealth of hidden bloom, 
If, in an atmosphere must fall 

Each bud, of barren gloom ? 

Must she not meet her God alone, 

And can she justify 
By bondage, life's true work undone 

Enough that she served thee ? 

Take thou upon thy soul the debt 

Of her eternal lot ; 
Or loose her galling chains, while yet 

Time's hand their stain may blot. 

Go ! slave to thy base nature ; cast 

Aside the flower whose bloom 
And spring-time sweetness now are past. 

Nor desecrate the tomb. 




ASPIRATIONS. 

ENTLE sprites who guard the race 
Of Flowers, where Fancy loves to trace 



In characters serenely bright, 
Shadows of celestial light 
Cast from Beauty infinite — 
Ye who watch, where grasses wave, 
In its temporary grave, 
The little seed, that tooth of mouse 
Attack it not in its dark house. 
Till the hour predestined come. 
To call it living from its tomb — 
Ye who bear the tender plant 
In meet proportion to each want, 
Dew and sunshine, rain and shade, 
And keep in tempests undismayed 
Its heart, lest there the vital sap 
Retreating, from the folds that wrap, 
Force should fail it to expand, 
178 



A SPIRA TIONS. 1 7 9 

And Being's end be unattained — 

Ye who fan with drowsy wings 

And dream-inviting murmurings, 

At sultry noon the languid flower, 

And turn aside with cunning power 

The canker- worm that would invade 

Its perfumed calyx, lest it fade 

Untimely, ere the honey-bee 

Have drunk the sweets that in it lie — 

Ye who watch the rose turn pale 

A¥ith ecstasy, the nightingale 

To hear, his song of love that pours, 

Divine, in Night's enchanted bowers — 

Who from beneath sustain the fair, 

Pure lily lest the damps impair 

Its brightness, safe that it may float 

On crystal streams, a fairy boat — 

Oh ! tell me, sprites, (if aught you feel 

For mortal woe or mortal weal,) 

If within the honey-cells 

Where the soul of sweetness dwells, 

Of Life the wondrous secret lies, ■ 

And its un guessed mysteries. 



1 8 O A SPIRA TIONS. 

Bring in dreams some shadow caught 
From the bright enchantments wrought 
Where the elements combine 
To frame a shape of Joy divine. 
Let it mingle with the forms 
Whose grace Youth's fading glow yet warms- 
Creatures of celestial mold, 
Chilled by contact with the cold, 
Gray atmosphere of life at last, 
That Uve in dreanis when Youth is past. 
Let the echo of the spells 
That from out the crystal wells 
Of Being draw the charm that brings 
Soul and form to senseless things 
Float in dreams, a magic sound, 
Blent with strains of flower-crowned 
Eolian harps that softly stir 
The ravished spirit, harbinger 
Of the raptures that await 
Her entrance through the Jasper Gate, 

Oh ! tell me, spirits, if ye know. 
When Life's flame has ceased to glow, 



ASPIRATIONS. l8: 

In what region, cold and dark, 

Lingers still the vital spark, 

Till it re-assume the state 

Of existence animate 

In corporeal vesture clad, 

Breathing once again the glad 

And fragrant airs of upper day, 

Again in death to fade away ; 

Of Being still the endless chain 

Pursuing — tell me if in vain. 

Bring, oh ! bring some healing balm 

That may give my spirit calm ; 

Some drop from Wisdom's sacred urns 

To assuage the thirst that burns 

Within my soul, consuming there 

Tranquillity and Pleasure fair. 



CONTENTMENT. 



A RIDDLE. 




NE little gem for all my wealth I hold, 
Encircled by no cunningly-wrought gold ; 
As Nature had it so she gave it me ; 
Yet eyes accustomed, since they saw the light, 
On jewels rare to gaze with careless sight, 
Oft pale with envy when my gem they see. 

One Summer night serene, in primal years. 
Ere Earth was furrowed by her children's tears, 

It fell from Heaven, with a falling star ; 
But long unnoticed lay, for in the blaze 
Of Happiness, earth's brightest gem, its rays 

Less brightly shone, than they had shone afar. 

In later days, while mortals sought repose 
In brief oblivion from thick-coming woes. 

And caught some glimmer of its light in dreams, 

182 



CONTENTMENT. I03 

The fairies holding, nightly revel, found, 
Half-hidden in the dewy, grassy ground, 

The Jewel, gleaming in the Moon's pale beams. 

Thenceforth it glittered in their fairy wand, 
And when some mortal maiden would despond, 

Neglected sitting in her father's hall, 
Some friendly fairy haply she beholds, 
Her rags around her fall in silken folds. 

And with her lover-Prince she leads the ball. 

But long ago, neglected by our race. 
The little people vanished into space ; 

And where they went no mortal man may know ; 
But first they sought the spot where they had found 
This precious stone, and deep within the ground 

They hid from mortal sight its magic glow. 

A precious stone — it may have been the stone 
Philosophers have sought for, but as none 

Grew intimate with Nature, so she hid 
Her treasure safely from them till beguiled 
By flattering praises, one Spring morn she smiled, 

And showed to me its hiding-place, unbid. 



1 84 CON 7 'EN T MEN T. 

Since then I wear the jewel on my breast — 
An amulet that ever brings me rest 

From soul-corroding cares and vain desires ; 
As if, in its clear depths some hidden spell — 
Some memory of its first home might dwell, 

And gazing there, to Heaven the soul aspires. 

A jewel rare it is, yet not too rare 
For daily use, and common daily wear, 

Since humblest things it never puts to shame ; 
For straight a gold and purple splendor falls 
Alike on palace-courts and cottage-walls. 

Beneath the roof where glows its living flame. 

Now, whoso skilled in science or in art, 
Can name my gem, and to the world impart 

The secret of the charms that in it lie, 
Him shall I call the wisest among men 
And richest, for he ne'er shall want again ; 

And to him I leave my jewel when I die. 



NATURE'S SECRET. 




Y soul is filled with longing 
And with a vague unrest ; 
It strives to grasp a shadow 
That still eludes its quest. 

Yet well I know to mortal 

It is not given to taste 
The nectar of the gods ; nor read 

The mystic meaning traced 

In characters forever 

The same, though changing still, 
On every leaf and blossom 

Where Life's glad pulses thrill. 

Ah ! could I but this Proteus 
In slumber deep surprise, 

And wile from him his secret, 
Or read it in his eyes ! 

185 



r86 NATURE'S SECRET. 

At times it seems to hover 
In heaven's cloudless blue ; 

Then nestles in a flower-cup, 
Or in a drop oi» dew. 

Oft in a strain of music 

My soul hath caught a tone, 

That could I but interpret, 
Would make it all my own. 

It flashes through the heavens 

In characters of light ; 
And peals in thunder from the clouds. 

When the Tempest walks in might. 

The south wind, that comes laden 
With fragrance o'er the sea, 

Whispers it to the flowers ; 
They to the honey-bee. 

The birds in dreams have caught it 
From Dawn's mysterious light. 

And with exultant carols 
Ravish the ear of Night. 



NATURE'S SECRET. 18/ 

The Moon shall by its magic 

Old Ocean ever lure, 
And hold in bonds invisible 

The giant still secure ; 

While fain in low-voiced murmurs, 

Or thunders loud and deep, 
The secret he would utter 

In dreams that haunts his sleep. 

In Summer days the sunshine 

Fills with it the calm air ; 
And in the Summer sunset — 

Ah ! then ' tis everywhere ! 

It rustles in the dry leaves 

That shroud dead Summer's bloom ; 
And like a phantom-face looks 

From Night's tempestupus gloom. 

It falls down with the snow-flake 

From heaven silently ; 
But sinks into Earth's bosom, 

And so is lost to me. 



l88 NATURES SECRET. 

And when the youth of Nature 
Spring's magic spells renew 

With elixirs compounded 
Of fire and of dew — 

Then, then my heart exulting 
Takes wings and soaring seeks 

The secret that in every pulse 
Of joyous Being speaks. 

But oh ! the syren music 
That lureth me alway 

With promises that, mocking, 
My senses steal away, 

Is the rippling of the streamlet 
Whose waters, bright and clear, 

With sparkling glances flatter. 
And whisper " It is here." 

Ah ! could I but from Nature 
Beguile her magic spell. 

Then might my soul serenely 
In sunshine ever dwell. 



NATURE'S SECRET. 1 89 

Upon those heights unclouded, 
Where Thought alone is free — 

The stars look down serenely, 
And beckon silently. 



[end.] 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

iillliiillilllllilillillilllili 

015 971 939 A 









-^^^ 







^^1^$^^^^^. 



